2 weeks Ago By Ari Yanover
GATINEAU, Que. — Treasury Board President Anita Anand has taken on the additional role of transport minister on Thursday after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from the federal cabinet to run for the Quebec Liberal leadership. Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister during a ceremony at Rideau Hall.
Rodriguez made a symbolic walk from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., over the Alexandra Bridge on Thursday morning, where he announced he’s also leaving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s caucus. Rodriguez announced that he will sit as an Independent member of Parliament until January, when the Quebec Liberal leadership race is set to officially begin.
That will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election,” Rodriguez said. He said sitting as an Independent MP will allow him to focus on his own priorities, but he plans to vote with the Liberals on a non-confidence motion next week. “I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.” A senior government source said Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant The next federal election must be held by October 2025, but the end of the supply-and-confidence deal between the Liberals and the NDP this month has increased the chances that the minority government will be toppled before then.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to do just that with a non-confidence motion in the House of Commons, which is set to be debated next Tuesday and voted on the following day. Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois to support him, but neither opposition party has said they plan to do so. Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.” His resignation comes the same week as the Liberals lost a key byelection in a stronghold riding in Montreal to the Bloc Quebecois..
