Profile: Quebec Liberal Leader Pablo Rodriguez joined party's youth wing at 16
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Pablo Rodriguez, 57, was a federal Liberal MP from 2004 to 2011 and from 2015 to Sept. 19, 2024, at which point he decided to sit as an independent while he prepared to launch his bid for the Quebec Liberal leadership, which he won Saturday in Quebec City.
During his term in office, he represented the Montreal riding of Honoré-Mercier and held several key roles in then-prime minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet, including as transport minister and minister of Canadian heritage. He also served as government whip and house leader as well as Trudeau's Quebec lieutenant.
He is the son of immigrants. When he was eight, his family fled the military junta in Argentina to settle in Quebec. His parents spoke only Spanish. Rodriguez learned French while playing hockey with friends in the arenas of Sherbrooke.
It was at the Université de Sherbrooke that he obtained a BA in business administration, starting his career in the field of international development for a Montreal-based NGO.
He became a member of the Quebec Liberal Party youth wing at age 16, rising to the post of vice-president. He travelled around Quebec as youth spokesperson for the No camp in the 1995 referendum campaign on independence.
Rodriguez and his spouse, Roxane, have one child, Béatrice. Rodriguez is fluent in French and English as well as Spanish.
Considered the front-runner in the race for the Quebec Liberal leadership because his political experience gave him a higher visibility than the other candidates, Rodriguez has in the past defended reforms to the Official Languages Act, which recognized French is a vulnerable language.
He has also denounced American companies that have complained about French language sign rules, saying they need to adapt.
Rodriguez has said he would drop the Coalition Avenir Québec's freeze on CEGEP enrolment included in Bill 96 overhauling the Charter of the French Language, as well as dropping the six-month deadline for immigrants to learn French.
At the May English all-candidates debate at John-Abbott College, Rodriguez said French is the official language of Quebec, but there is no need to protect it by attacking the English-speaking community.
'We will always protect French, but not by being against the English community. A Quebecer is a Quebecer is a Quebecer.'
He has said win or lose the leadership, he would run for the Liberals in 2026.
He has not said where he would run, but said he is mulling over either a riding in the Eastern Townships or Montreal.
This story was originally published June 14, 2025 at 5:29 PM.
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