‘Brownie’ text messages about Quebec Liberal leadership race were ‘montage’ of other messages: investigation
Posted February 11, 2026 4:12 pm.
Last Updated February 11, 2026 4:40 pm.
The alleged text messages that suggested Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) members were paid for voting for Pablo Rodriguez in the last leadership race were a “montage” of other text messages, an investigation commissioned by the party has concluded.
The text messages about “brownies” – the veracity and authenticity of which the Liberals have long questioned – were at the heart of a Nov. 19, 2025, Journal de Montréal article that shook the provincial party.
“I can confirm that what was sent by the source at the Journal de Montréal can only be a montage,” retired judge Jacques R. Fournier concluded.
That’s because the text messages are not clearly dated and there there is no way to establish when and where they came from, Fournier wrote.
“It is not possible to establish the veracity or even the authenticity of all or part of these messages,” the report reads.
“The part reported in the Journal is not part of the discussions between April 11 and 13, 2025, and that it was only by pasting, after removing part of the original text, that the source could have included them in the chain of messages.”
The 39-page report, which was released Wednesday, was commissioned by the Quebec Liberals when Rodriguez was still in power.
The text messages, allegedly between Liberal supporters, suggested PLQ members received “brownies” – a possible reference to a $100 bill – in exchange for voting for Rodriguez during the June 14, 2025, leadership race, which the former federal minister narrowly won.
Quebec Liberal Report Judge Fournier by CityNewsToronto
Fournier could not determine whether vote-buying actually did happen, in large part because he was not able to access all the text messages.
“For the reasons given during the analysis and in particular taking into account the fact that I was unable to access all the messages, I cannot respond, neither in one direction nor the other,” he wrote.
Pablo Rodriguez unaware
But the retired judge concluded Rodriguez was not involved or aware of possible “brownie” payments until questioned by the Journal.
“There is no proof that he was aware of the irregular maneuvers that appear in the article of November 19, 2025 or even in subsequent articles,” Fournier concluded.
Rodriguez stepped down as leader of the Quebec Liberals Dec. 17, 2025, following weeks of allegations related to his leadership campaign. He consistently denied knowledge of any possible wrongdoing.
Meanwhile nothing indicates that two Quebec MNAs whose names were mentioned in connection with the allegations were involved in any way, the report found.
The Liberal MNA for Chomedey, Sona Lakhoyan Olivier, and the CAQ MNA for Fabre, Alice Abou-Khalil, were both quick to deny any involvement when their names were mentioned the day the Journal article came out.
“There is no evidence” to suggest they were involved, the report reads.
