North American linguistic varieties have long differed from their European counterparts. Yet North American French varieties are still stigmatized since they are often associated systematically with working classes speech or with vernaculars considered too far removed from the fantasized norm associated with writing. However, spoken Québec French is not devoid of careful styles, most of which have yet to be described: several studies have focused on the vernacular, but only a few have looked at spontaneous speech in more formal settings. This article proposes the description of an objective norm by describing the linguistic usage of Québec's cultural and political elites in two Radio-Canada televised interview settings. In addition to expanding the existing descriptions of spoken Québec French, the comparison of the two settings allows the measurement of stylistic variation in individuals. Results from the analysis of two variables that could help disentangle careful speech from written French—auxiliary alternation and verbal negation—show that the styles observed in televised interview settings are halfway between the vernaculars and the written ‘standard’. By examining, on the one hand, objective norms emanating from a socio-culturally privileged group and, on the other hand, socio-stylistic variation in 21st century Québec French, this contribution sheds light on French sociolinguistics and on future pedagogical applications in the Canadian context.