MONTREAL — The Quebec Liberals have acclaimed 46-year-old Charles Milliard as their new leader, forgoing the need for a second leadership race in less than one year.
With no other candidate accepted by the party, the Liberals formally announced Milliard as the new leader shortly after Friday’s application deadline.
“It’s an important moment for our party,” the Liberals said in a message posted on social media. “It’s a moment that engages us and brings us together and propels us into the future.”
Milliard is a member of the Quebec order of pharmacists and was head of the federation of Quebec chambers of commerce.
He came second in the 2025 Liberal leadership race to ex-federal cabinet minister Pablo Rodriguez, who resigned in December amid a crisis involving allegations of vote-buying and reimbursed donations.
Milliard has never held public office but has been a member of the Quebec Liberals since 2010.
He is promising to renew the party, which has fallen out of favour with large swaths of the francophone majority, with the provincial election scheduled for Oct. 5.
Milliard will spend his first days as leader at a pivotal moment in Quebec politics. The Coalition Avenir Québec is also seeking a new leader after Premier François Legault announced last month he would step down.
Meanwhile, the Parti Québécois have been riding high in the polls for more than two years, with the Quebec Liberals in a distant second place.
The Quebec Liberals had previously announced a large rally this Sunday at a hotel in Trois-Rivières, Que. to welcome their new leader, who does not have a seat in the Quebec legislature.
The only other potential rival in the Liberal leadership race was Mario Roy, a farmer from Quebec’s Beauce region.
He confirmed an interest in running, but was excluded by the party for not meeting the nomination requirements. Roy finished fifth during that 2025 race.
Currently, Liberal member Marc Tanguay is serving as the party’s parliamentary leader.
Milliard is taking over the leadership of a party that has been plagued by allegations about its last leadership race.
Le Journal de Montréal published text messages in November suggesting some party members who had voted for Rodriguez in the leadership race could have received cash rewards.
A separate report in Le Journal de Montréal alleged that around 20 donors to Rodriguez’ leadership campaign received envelopes containing $500 in cash to reimburse their donations during a fundraising event in April.
The Canadian Press has not independently verified the allegations in those media reports.
The province’s anti-corruption unit has opened an investigation into the fundraising.
This week, a retired Quebec Superior Court judge, hired by the party to investigate the allegations, released his findings saying he was not able to corroborate the media reports.
The review also noted there was nothing to suggest Rodriguez was aware of alleged fundraising irregularities.
Rodriguez was also dogged by the firing of his former parliamentary leader Marwah Rizqy’s chief of staff, Geneviève Hinse, a close collaborator of Rodriguez.
Hinse is suing Rizqy, the former Liberal parliamentary leader, for $500,000 for wrongful dismissal after she was fired on Nov. 17. Hinse denies allegations by Rizqy that she was fired for circumventing rules that forbid using legislature funds for partisan work.
Neither Rizqy’s nor Hinse’s claims have been tested in court.
In the aftermath of Hinse’s dismissal, Rizqy was expelled from the Liberal caucus by Rodriguez.
But she returned to the legislature earlier this year and told reporters that it would be up to the next leader to decide whether she rejoins the Liberal caucus.
She met with Milliard but did not reveal the discussion.
“I never wanted to be excluded,” Rizqy told reporters. “I can assure you that I did everything I could to preserve my integrity, and that of the party, when I was parliamentary leader.”
Rizqy has said she won’t seek re-election.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2026.
The Canadian Press
