Then Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 23, 2022 (Screenshot)
By Noé Chartier
Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he’s touched by the requests he’s received to lead the Liberal Party in Quebec but stopped short of indicating whether he’s considering the move.
Rodriguez made the comments on Aug. 8 at an unrelated federal funding announcement in Winnipeg, where he was asked by reporters if he was considering joining the race to lead the Quebec Liberals.
Rodriguez said he’s been approached by “a lot of people” to go back to the Quebec Liberals where “it all started” for him years ago. Rodriguez was a member of the party’s youth wing in the 1990s.
“It touches me a lot, I receive this with a lot of humility,” Rodriguez said.
“It’s a privilege and honour to be approached by so many people, but that’s my only comment,” he added, refusing to answer further questions about the matter.
Rodriguez has been a Liberal MP since 2015 and has also served between 2004 and 2011. He lost his Montreal riding of Honoré-Mercier in 2011 to the NDP during the “orange wave,” which saw the Liberals relegated to third-party status.
Rodriguez has been Transport Minister since the cabinet shuffle in July 2023, replacing Omar Alghabra. He previously served as Heritage Minister and sponsored major bills C-11 and C-18, reshaping the information environment.
If Rodrigues picks up the job, he‘d be another high profile Liberal minister to leave federal politics. Last month, Liberal MP Seamus O’Regan resigned from his post as labour minister.
O’Regan, which hails from Newfoundland, said he wouldn’t run in the next election as he puts his family first.
The move came after Liberals lost a Toronto stronghold to the Conservatives in a late June byelection.
Rodriguez has been in cabinet since 2018 and also serves as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Quebec lieutenant.
The federal Liberals have been strong in the province and currently hold 34 of the 78 seats. This is ahead of separatist Bloc Québécois, which holds 32 seats.
The provincial Liberals, however, have been struggling since the 2018 election when they lost power to the Coalition Avenir Québec. They won 31 seats out of 125 in that election.
The Quebec Liberals dropped further in the 2022 election winning 21 seats, which led to the resignation of its leader Dominique Anglade.
The party will choose its new leader in June 2025. Currently only former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre has said he’s running. Coderre is also a former federal Liberal cabinet minister and was elected six times as an MP.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.