Pressure mounts on Quebec Liberal Leader Pablo Rodriguez to resign amid crisis

QUÉBEC — Quebec Liberal Leader Pablo Rodriguez is facing increasing pressure from prominent Liberals to step down amid an ongoing crisis within the party.

But the former federal cabinet minister insists he will remain in office and that he can still win the next provincial election.

“I was elected by the party members because they know I have the experience to beat the (governing Coalition Avenir Québec) and beat the Parti Québécois,” the embattled leader told reporters Thursday morning on the sidelines of his party’s caucus meeting in Quebec City. “I’m not going anywhere.”

A day earlier, Quebec’s anti-corruption police announced they were launching a criminal investigation of the Quebec Liberals, following allegations of vote-buying during the leadership race that Rodriguez won in June.

The news has prompted some Liberals to call openly for the leader’s resignation, claiming the ongoing crisis has damaged the party with less than a year to go before the next election.

Former Liberal minister Christine St-Pierre said the anti-corruption unit’s investigation is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“It’s undermining his leadership,” she said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Thursday. “It’s up to him to make the decision, but I urge him to seriously consider the best interests of the party.”

Another former Liberal minister, Serge Simard, called for Rodriguez to step down.

“The die is cast. The damage is done. So, from this point on, if we want to put this behind the party — a party that has done a lot for Quebec, it must be said — we have to stop this now and replace the leader. We have no choice, we’ve reached that point,” he said.

Simard supported one of Rodriguez’s rivals, Charles Milliard, in the leadership campaign, and is now inviting Milliard to re-enter the race if the Liberal leader were to step aside. “I had confidence in Charles. I still have confidence in him,” he said Thursday.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez’s other main leadership rival, Karl Blackburn, told Radio-Canada that the situation is “extremely worrying.”

“I think that Mr. Rodriguez, in this context, certainly has to ask himself some serious questions,” he said.

Blackburn did not rule out replacing Rodriguez if he were to resign.

A third former Liberal minister, Jean D’Amour, is also calling on Rodriguez to step down for the good of the party.

“I think the time has come for him to prove his commitment to the party and, unfortunately, to leave. I’m not doing this lightly, but I talk to activists, I talk to association presidents, and these people are a little fed up, exasperated with the situation,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

The Liberal caucus was thrown into turmoil in November after former parliamentary leader Marwah Rizqy fired her chief of staff without consulting Rodriguez. He later expelled her from the caucus, saying she had not explained her reasons to him and that she lacked loyalty.

Shortly after Rizqy dismissed her chief of staff, Le Journal de Montréal published text messages suggesting some party members who voted for Rodriguez could have received cash rewards. It’s unclear whether the two stories are connected.

Last week, Rodriguez announced he had expelled a second Liberal member of the legislature, Sona Lakhoyan Olivier, from his caucus because of an investigation by Quebec’s ethics commissioner.

The office of the ethics commissioner said it would examine whether Lakhoyan Olivier used resources from her constituency office for partisan purposes during the leadership race.

Montreal radio station 98.5 FM named Lakhoyan Olivier as one of the two people behind the text messages reported by Le Journal de Montréal, but she has denied that claim and has sent a legal letter to station owner Cogeco.

The Canadian Press has not verified whether the text messages were authentic.

Rodriguez has said he welcomes the investigations, and he has nothing to hide. He has separately asked a retired judge to investigate the claims.

In Quebec City on Thursday, the mood among Liberal caucus members was downcast, though they have not publicly broken ranks with their leader. Liberal Enrico Ciccone said his constituents were beginning to talk to him about the controversy.

“We are in a difficult situation today. We are terribly hurt. We work so hard for the people in our ridings. What we want to know is the whole truth,” he said.

Another Liberal member of the legislature, Monsef Derraji, reminded reporters that he was not involved in any candidate’s leadership campaign. “These are extremely difficult times,” he said. “Every day, we learn something new.”

But others reiterated their support for Rodriguez. “I am prepared to go to war with him,” said Liberal Linda Caron. “Nothing wrong was done during the campaign.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2025.

Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press