Pablo: He lacks judgement and is not a true Quebec nationalist.

Rodriguez is now running for the leadership of the QLP and his campaign is already in full swing. Pablo would have us believe that he is and always has been a great Quebec nationalist. Here's what he said: [TRANSLATION] "I'm certain that François Legault's Quebec, with its divisive policies, doesn't look like Quebec, doesn't bring Quebec together. I am also deeply convinced [...] that a referendum is neither desired by Quebecers nor desirable’."

And his campaign co-chair, former minister Luc Fortin, goes in the same direction of political illusion: he tells us that Rodriguez is ‘resolutely “nationalist”’. [TRANSLATION] "I think people are going to discover Pablo Rodriguez, the Quebec nationalist. I know Pablo,’ says Luc Fortin. Sometimes,’ he continues, ’things are said in caucus and cabinet that aren't made public. I know that he has always been a very strong voice for Quebec. I think it will be very easy for him to get rid of the image that his opponents are trying to pin on him." 

Rodriguez joined Trudeau's cabinet in 2019, when he became Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. Neither Pablo nor Fortin talk about the great gains for Quebec as a result of the Trudeau government's initiatives to devolve powers to Quebec. That's because there have been no gains, full stop. This supposedly great nationalist couldn't convince his prime minister, let alone his fellow ministers. But hey.

It's also fun to pretend that Pablo is the new Captain Canada and that from now on he's going to fight fiercely for Quebec's interests alone. Well, let's see. He's far from Charest's second coming.

As for his former colleagues in Ottawa, he has totally abandoned them for personal political gain. His ambition has got the better of him. He's slamming the door just when Trudeau needs him most. And the icing on the cake is that this tired Liberal will now be wearing the false colours of an independent MP. Rodriguez doesn't have enough judgment to understand that his former colleagues, now his new colleagues in the QLP, are fiercely Liberal at the federal level. It's easy to estimate that 80% or 90% of members support Trudeau in Ottawa. Once again, Pablo is using political camouflage.

All this to say that Rodriguez doesn't have the intellectual depth or political rigour of Charest. His political candidacy comes off much more like a musical comedy...