MONTREAL — Just six months after winning the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP), Pablo Rodriguez has resigned amid a deepening crisis involving allegations of ethical breaches and illegal campaign financing.
The former federal cabinet minister’s departure, confirmed Wednesday, follows weeks of internal party turmoil and mounting pressure from prominent Liberals for him to step down. Rodriguez, who moved into provincial politics with the goal of unseating Premier François Legault in the 2026 election, leaves the party once again leaderless and mired in controversy.
The Catalyst: A Party in Turmoil
The crisis that unseated Rodriguez began in mid-November with a public fracture within the Liberal caucus. Rodriguez’s handpicked parliamentary leader, Marwah Rizqy, abruptly fired her chief of staff, Geneviève Hinse—a close associate of Rodriguez.
The move triggered a retaliatory strike from the leader; Rodriguez ousted Rizqy as parliamentary leader and eventually expelled her from the caucus entirely, citing a lack of loyalty. This internal bickering backfired, as Rizqy’s supporters and long-standing party members viewed the move as an overreach that prioritized personal grievances over party unity.
Allegations of Illegal Financing
While the internal rift was the catalyst, a series of investigative reports by Le Journal de Montréal proved to be the fatal blow.
- Vote-Buying Claims: In late November, the newspaper published text messages suggesting that party members had been paid $100 each to vote for Rodriguez during the June leadership race.
- Fundraising Schemes: More recently, reports emerged that at a private fundraising event in April, roughly 20 donors were allegedly reimbursed for their $500 contributions with envelopes of cash provided by a host—a practice that is illegal under Quebec’s election laws.
Quebec’s anti-corruption police, UPAC, confirmed last week that it had launched a criminal investigation into the allegations. While Rodriguez has denied any personal knowledge of these schemes and even appointed a retired judge to conduct an external probe, the damage to his leadership was viewed by many as irreversible.
“The Party and the Province Are the Priority”
The final push for resignation came from within. High-profile Liberals, including former cabinet ministers and MNAs, began calling for his exit to save the party’s reputation.
In a poignant op-ed in the Montreal Gazette just a day before the resignation, former Liberal minister Clifford Lincoln wrote that while he believed Rodriguez had done nothing wrong personally, “the party, and especially the province, are the priority — not the individual.” He warned that the ongoing scandal risked repeating a “Joe Biden scenario” where a leader becomes a liability to their party’s survival.
What’s Next?
Rodriguez’s resignation leaves the Quebec Liberals in a precarious position. After years of struggling to regain traction with francophone voters, the party had recently seen a modest boost in the polls under Rodriguez.
The party will now need to appoint an interim leader and organize its second leadership race in less than a year. Potential candidates from the previous race, such as Karl Blackburn or Charles Milliard, may see renewed calls to run, though the party’s immediate focus will likely be on cooperating with UPAC and the Ethics Commissioner to clear its name before the 2026 election cycle begins in earnest.
