Pablo Rodriguez (born June 21, 1967) is an Argentine-Canadian politician who served as the leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from June to December 2025. He previously served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Honoré-Mercier from 2015 to 2025, and before from 2004 to 2011, serving in various cabinet roles.
A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Rodriguez previously served in the 29th Canadian Ministry as minister of Transport, minister of Canadian Heritage, the Government Chief Whip, and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons at various points from 2017 to 2024. Additionally, he was his party's Quebec lieutenant from 2019 until 2024.
Rodriguez resigned from the Cabinet and the federal Liberal caucus on September 19, 2024, to run for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party. He continued to sit as an MP until January 20, 2025, when the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign period began. He won the second round with 52.3% of the popular vote over Charles Milliard. Amid a political crisis, he resigned as leader on December 17, 2025, just months after being elected.
Rodriguez was born on June 21, 1967, in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. When he was eight, Rodriguez's family fled to Canada after their home was bombed during the Dirty War, and his father, who was running for governor in Argentina's Tucuman province, was repeatedly jailed and tortured for his activism. They initially stayed in Montreal, but moved to Sherbrooke, after his father obtained a teaching position at the University of Sherbrooke, where Rodriguez learned customs and cultural traditions of Quebec by learning French by playing hockey with friends and listening to songs of Paul Piché. He also was elected class president at Sherbrooke CEGEP.
Rodriguez was initially drawn to politics after his father took him to hear René Lévesque's victory speech in 1976. He joined the Quebec Liberal Party youth wing at age 16 eventually becoming vice-president serving alongside Mario Dumont. When Dumont left the youth commission, Rodriguez was one of the few members within the commission who stayed with the party. During the 1995 referendum campaign on Quebec independence, he was a youth spokesperson for the No camp. Rodriguez was the Past President of the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Rodriguez has a degree in business administration from the University of Sherbrooke, worked in public affairs and international development for a Montreal-based NGO, Club 2/3. He was the Vice President of Oxfam Québec from 2000 to 2004 after it was merged with Club 2/3.
Rodriguez was elected as a Liberal to the House of Commons of Canada for the Quebec riding of Honoré-Mercier in 2004, 2006 and 2008. For most of his first stint in Parliament, he was the only Liberal representing a riding in eastern Montreal, a longstanding stronghold for the Bloc Québecois.
Rodriguez was chair of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, the Official OppositionâÂÂs Critic for of the Francophonie and Official Languages, and Critic for Public Works and Government Services Canada. He has served on many committees of the House of Commons, including the Committee of Canadian Heritage, Official Languages and the Public Accounts Committee.
He was the Quebec Chair of Michael Ignatieff's candidacy in the 2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election.
On February 14, 2007, a bill Rodriguez put forward was passed by the Commons that would give the Conservative government 60 days to come up with a plan to respect Canada's engagements under the Kyoto Protocol.
On April 16, 2010, Rodriguez was charged under the Criminal Code of Canada, after he collided his BMW with a parked car in Montreal. Police attending the crash reported Rodriguez had bloodshot eyes and alcohol on his breath, and during attempts to administer a breathalyzer test, Rodriguez "breathed very weakly and cut his breath repeatedly, all the while holding the plastic tip at the edge of his lips".
According to Rodriguez himself, "Because I'd consumed a moderate amount of wine during the previous supper, the police officer asked me to proceed with a breathalyzer test, using a hand-held machine, which I did without hesitation". Despite the criminal charge, Rodriguez remained in the Liberal caucus.
In the 2011 election he was defeated by the New Democratic Party's Paulina Ayala amid the New Democratic Party's surge in Quebec.
After his defeat, Rodriguez where he headed Ecolomondo, a Montreal company that now specializes in the treatment of hydrocarbon-based waste. In 2013, he left the company after Justin Trudeau tasked him to rebuild the party in Quebec. Rodriguez, who was living off his Registered Retirement Savings Plan, travelled the province and recruited candidates for the 2015 election. He also sought a rematch with Ayala. Amid a Liberal surge almost as large as the NDP's surge four years earlier where the Liberals grew from their Quebec caucus from six members to 40 members, he defeated Ayala to return to Parliament.
Rodriguez served as Chief Government Whip for a year and a half from January 30, 2017.
Rodriguez served in the 42nd Canadian Parliament as the Minister of Canadian Heritage from July 18, 2018 until dissolution of that government on November 20, 2019. One of his signature initiatives at Heritage was the expansion of the Canada Periodical Fund from magazine-format monthlies to daily broadsheets. This was announced in Bill Morneau's November 21, 2018 "fiscal update" as a $600-million fund over five years. The measure was widely applauded in the press "by an eclectic group of media outlets, including Postmedia, which owns the National Post, Torstar, which publishes the Toronto Star, SaltWire Network, and the CBC among others."
Rodriguez was re-elected in the 2019 federal election.
From formation on November 20, 2019 until dissolution, Rodriguez served as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.
After the 2021 election, Rodriguez was re-appointed as Minister of Canadian Heritage on October 26, 2021.
Rodriguez introduced the Online News Act, Bill C-18, An Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada. It received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023. The bill would force tech giants to compensate news organizations. The Trudeau government has dismissed the complaints of the tech giants will have to pay exorbitant amounts of money and would face uncapped liability based on how many links are posted.
In 2020, Steven Guilbeault, the Minister of Canadian Heritage at the time, proposed Bill C-10, however, due to suspension of parliament in 2021, and the call of an early election, permanently paused the bill. After Rodriguez became the Minister of Canadian Heritage, he proposed Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts. C-11 later passed both the House of Commons and the Senate, receiving royal consent on April 27, 2023, and becoming law. C-11 amends the broadcasting act, created in 1968, by creating a framework that online broadcasters, such as Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify must follow. It expands the power of the Canadian Radio Television-Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, giving the CRTC flexibility on how to do the regulations. The goal of C-11 is to promote Canadian Content, and extend its beliefs online. Proponents of C-11, such as Neal McDougall of TVO, argue that C-11 modernizes the ageing Broadcasting Act, ensuring online streamers and Canadian broadcasters play by the same rules, and promotes Canadian content and culture. However, C-11 has also been criticized, such as by Dr. Michael Geist, who argues multiple definitions were left undefined in C-11, including definitions on Canadian Content and mandated contributions.
On July 26, 2023, Rodriguez was appointed Minister of Transport.
After weeks of speculation, Rodriguez announced on September 19, 2024, that he was resigning from the federal cabinet in order to run for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party, and would resign from the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent in order to have the flexibility to run his campaign as he saw fit. Rodriguez sat as an independent MP until officially entering the race and resigning his seat on January 20, 2025. He narrowly defeated Charles Milliard on the second ballot, becoming the first Hispanic to lead a provincial party in Quebec.
After winning the leadership, Rodriguez appointed MNA Marwah Rizqy as parliamentary leader. She was removed as leader by Rodriguez in November 2025, after Rizqy fired her chief of staff without consulting him. The same month, he served a legal notice to newspaper Le Journal de Montréal, after it reported that Quebec Liberal Party members were allegedly financially rewarded for voting for Rodriguez in the leadership election; he denied the accusations. The payments were reportedly nicknamed "brownies". The Unité permanente anticorruption confirmed that it opened an investigation in December 2025, and many former Liberal MNAs called for Rodriguez to resign. After weeks of party turmoil, Rodriguez announced his resignation as party leader to his caucus on December 17, 2025, and to the public a day later. He is the shortest-serving leader in the party's history. In December 2025, the François Legault government passed legislation that banned vote buying in municipal and provincial leadership elections.
Rodriguez is married to his wife, Roxane and has a daughter. He is fluent in French, English, Spanish and is learning Italian.