Quebec Liberals lose two caucus members in a week as crisis continues

QUÉBEC — The Quebec Liberals have lost two members of their caucus within a week and are facing multiple investigations as a crisis within the party shows no sign of abating.

The Liberals have been dogged by controversy for nearly three weeks, with one recent poll showing the party and its leader, former federal cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez, have taken a substantial hit in public opinion.

“Everything that’s coming out now, it’s preventing us from doing our best work,” Monsef Derraji, a Liberal member of the legislature, told reporters in Quebec City on Friday. “I’m tired of hearing all these stories every day.”

His comments came after Rodriguez announced Thursday evening that he had expelled a Montreal-area member of the legislature, Sona Lakhoyan Olivier, from his caucus because she is under investigation by Quebec’s ethics commissioner.

The office of the ethics commissioner announced it will investigate whether Lakhoyan Olivier used resources from her constituency office for partisan purposes during this year’s Liberal leadership race, which Rodriguez won in June.

“Under the circumstances, I have decided to exclude her from the Quebec Liberal Party caucus for the duration of this investigation,” Rodriguez said on X.

Lakhoyan Olivier wrote on social media Thursday that she has always followed the rules and will co-operate fully with the investigation.

At a press conference on Friday, Marc Tanguay, the party’s chief whip, said it’s customary for members of the legislature to be removed from their caucus while they’re subject to ethics investigations.

Another Liberal, Désirée McGraw, told reporters the Liberal caucus remains “100 per cent” behind Rodriguez.

Still, that caucus now numbers just 18 people after Rodriguez expelled his former parliamentary leader, Marwah Rizqy, earlier this week, saying she lacked loyalty to him and to the party.

Rizqy kicked off the crisis in the Liberal ranks when she fired her chief of staff last month. Rodriguez says she did not consult with him about the decision and has not explained her reasons.

The Liberals are also facing allegations of possible vote-buying during the leadership race. Last month, Le Journal de Montréal published text messages suggesting some party members who voted for Rodriguez could have received cash rewards.

Montreal radio station 98.5 FM named Lakhoyan Olivier as one of the two people behind those text messages, 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. It’s also unclear whether the firing of Rizqy’s chief of staff and the vote-buying allegations are connected.

Rodriguez has asked a retired judge to investigate the allegations, and says anyone involved in such activity will be kicked out of the party. Quebec’s anticorruption police have also said they are looking into the controversy.

The crisis for the Liberals comes as the party tries to regain the support of Quebec voters, particularly francophones outside Montreal, ahead of next year’s election. With the governing Coalition Avenir Québec polling badly, the Liberals are positioning themselves as the alternative to the Parti Québécois, which is promising a referendum on independence by 2030.

But a recent Léger/Québecor poll showed the Liberals losing ground as the controversy drags on. The survey put the Liberals at 21 per cent, compared to 39 per cent for the PQ.

On Friday, the Quebec government tabled new legislation to ban vote-buying in leadership and nomination races. To the surprise of many lawmakers, Elections Quebec recently revealed that the province’s Elections Act does not prohibit people from making donations in exchange for votes in those campaigns.

The bill, which has the support of the opposition parties, includes fines of up to $10,000 for a first offence and up to $30,000 for repeat offences within 10 years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2025.

— By Maura Forrest in Montreal with files from Thomas Laberge in Quebec City

The Canadian Press