Pablo Rodriguez says he’s stepping down as Liberal leader with his ‘head held high’

By Canadian Press on December 18, 2025.

MONTREAL — Pablo Rodriguez says he’s standing tall and has no regrets after stepping down as leader of the Quebec Liberal Party amid allegations of wrongdoing during the leadership race he won in June.

The former federal cabinet minister publicly announced his resignation at party headquarters in Montreal on Thursday, saying he had become a “distraction” as the party prepares for a provincial election next year.

“I took this decision solely out of a sense of duty for my party, which I sincerely love, for Quebec and for my country,” he told reporters during a brief press conference. He did not take questions.

Rodriguez announced his resignation to the Liberal caucus on Wednesday, after days of mounting pressure. The party has been in turmoil for the last month over allegations of vote-buying and reimbursed donations during the leadership race.

Rodriguez has always maintained he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing. “Today, I stand tall before you, my head held high,” he said Thursday. “I have always acted with authenticity, integrity, and ethics.”

But he said the Liberal party must be united, with the next election less than a year away and the sovereigntist Parti Québécois promising a third referendum on independence by 2030. “We cannot afford to start an election year divided, especially at a time when Canada’s future is at stake,” he said.

Rodriguez said the Liberal party remains the best option to defeat the governing Coalition Avenir Québec and to prevent another referendum. “The Quebec Liberal Party is bigger than any of us. It has weathered storms, it has risen time and time again, and it will rise again,” he said.

In a brief statement Thursday, Premier François Legault said he respects Rodriguez’s decision. “I wish him peace of mind,” he said.

Meanwhile, Quebec Liberal Party president Rafael Primeau-Ferraro said the party’s executive council will hold an emergency meeting to appoint an interim leader until a new leader is chosen.

Rodriguez fought to keep his job over the last several weeks, despite allegations that party members may have received cash rewards in exchange for votes. But after Quebec’s anti-corruption police announced a criminal investigation of the party last week, prominent Liberals began calling for him to step aside.

The final straw came on Tuesday, when Le Journal de Montréal reported that around 20 donors to his leadership campaign received envelopes containing $500 in cash to reimburse their donations during a fundraising event in April.

On Thursday, Rodriguez said that if anyone is found to have committed an “inappropriate or illegal act,” they will have to face the consequences.

In a statement on social media, PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the Liberal party has “a serious problem with its political and organizational culture,” though he said he sees no evidence that Rodriguez himself is corrupt.

“The questionable and illegal practices recently revealed cannot, of course, be the work of a single person; they require the co-operation or wilful blindness of a large number of individuals,” he said. “This party needs to engage in some serious soul-searching.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2025.

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press