PLQ crisis: Chomedey MNA removed and alleged internal petition calls for Pablo Rodriguez to step down

Turmoil continues inside the Quebec Liberal Party, where Chomedey MNA Sona Lakhoyan Olivier has been removed from caucus pending an ethics investigation.

The move comes as reports circulate of a petition calling for leader Pablo Rodriguez to step down.

Adding to the political tension, the CAQ has tabled new legislation aimed at prohibiting vote-buying in provincial leadership races. Political analyst Karim Boulos spoke with CityNews to weigh in on the latest developments.

What do you make of Chomedey MNA Sona Lakhoyan Olivier being excluded from caucus?

Well, there were rumors circulating at the very beginning regarding who may have exchanged these texts that reference the famous brownie and how people did their fundraising. It inferred that it was somebody who’s been in a campaign themselves. And so I think that there were names circulating, and clearly this move confirms that this individual was possibly one of the people exchanging these comments and possibly involved in the buying of or influencing the vote so that Mr. Rodriguez could become leader.

So if that is true, and if it was unbeknownst to Mr. Rodriguez, then that’s what he’s trying to prove through this inquiry. I think it’s the right move. I think she’s not expelled from caucus in the sense that she’s being punished for something. It’s just to maintain neutrality and to maintain a separate body, a separate entity, being able to do its work, a separate judge to look into it to see if there was any potential unethical behaviour or ultimately any wrongdoing. So it’s a smart move. It adds more attention to the Liberal Party, but it’s the right thing to do.

There’s also an alleged petition going around for Pablo Rodriguez to step down from inside the PLQ. Friday morning, you had MNAs including Monsef Derraji stepping out in support of their leader. Thoughts on the petition? Should Rodriguez step down?

It’s certainly undoing a lot of the good work that he had done over the course of the summer and into the fall. We can’t forget that they were trailing the Parti Québécois by about 10 or 11 points at the last poll in the fall before all this, before the Marwah Rizqy situation happened. And the race for the leadership had five strong candidates between Mr. Milliard and Mr. Rodriguez. It was a very tight race to the end.

So it wouldn’t surprise me to see some of Mr. Milliard’s supporters and others who did not support Mr. Rodriguez at the beginning say that, look, maybe this is not the right thing to be doing 10 months out from an election. So, to have people worry is perfectly normal and if anything does come out, they’re going to have to act very swiftly to make the changes necessary to get back on track, the track that they were on in the summer. Whoever’s going to take over will need to continue the positive work that was done and continue to build ground. You don’t try to make up the ground against the PQ.

The CAQ has now tabled its bill on vote-buying. What are your thoughts?

It’s common sense. I can’t believe that it is not illegal to buy votes in a leadership race. And we wouldn’t accept buying votes in a general election, why would we accept that the leader with the most money somehow has an upper hand over somebody who didn’t have enough money or didn’t have enough financial backing to become leader?

So do we want someone who can buy their way into the leadership of a party? That’s the underlying question. It’s got nothing to do with the Liberals. If anybody can buy their way into that position, there’s a problem with the system and I agree with the CAQ’s position to address it.

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