Quebec Liberal Party leader says Rizqy ‘is hurting the party’

Quebec Liberal Party leader Pablo Rodriguez answers questions from reporters at the Quebec National Assembly on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. House leader André Fortin, left, looks on. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

The crisis in the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) continues as leader Pablo Rodriguez says he still doesn’t know why Marwah Rizqy fired her chief of staff, Geneviève Hinse.

“I think she (Marwah Rizqy) is hurting the party, and that’s unfortunate,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez was bombarded with questions on the subject again on Tuesday at a press briefing at the National Assembly. He said he wrote to Rizqy last week to ask for a meeting.

“I haven’t heard back yet,” he said.

Last week, Rizqy fired Hinse, a close associate of Rodriguez, without consulting him first.

The Liberal leader then dismissed Rizqy from her position as parliamentary leader and suspended her from the caucus, citing a “breach of trust.”

On Wednesday, Hinse’s lawyer summoned Rizqy to publicly admit within 24 hours that there were no grounds for her client’s dismissal. Instead, the Saint-Laurent MNA sent a letter to Hinse stating that she had been dismissed “due to significant ethical breaches” and “repeated acts of insubordination.”

On Sunday, Rizqy wrote on Facebook that she could not comment publicly because it was a human resources matter.

The MNA also said she was “more than aware” that this situation had placed her “political family in a delicate position.”

Not being elected to the National Assembly, Rodriguez had entrusted Rizqy with the mandate to serve as leader of the official opposition until the 2026 general election.

Rizqy, who is not running for re-election, supported Rodriguez in the leadership race. On Tuesday, the new parliamentary leader of the PLQ, André Fortin, said he had asked the ethics commissioner for guidance on the use of National Assembly resources in the context of an extra-parliamentary leader.

“Where we have questions is, for example, if there are employees who are part-time here at the National Assembly but who may have a contract outside, particularly with the party. These are the kinds of questions we would like to ask the commissioner,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 25, 2025.

BY Thomas Laberge, The Canadian Press