In politics, we recognize those who are ahead by the virulence of the criticism towards them. Those who surpass us, who seem to have the public’s favor, are often those at whom we send the sharpest arrows. And Pablo Rodriguez, in this regard, is no exception.
The Liberal convention was the scene of various shows of force from leadership candidates. They all want to prove that they have a team, young people and more experienced ones. Moreover, they are all flanked by activists as soon as a camera turns on, as if they could not comply with a press scrum without these faces being cleverly visible behind them.
Contrition
But beyond the power of the image, there is that of words: the leader of this race, Pablo Rodriguez, is visibly feared. According to his opponents, he must explain, even apologize for the decisions of the Trudeau government to which he belonged until very recently.
The main arrows towards him came from Fred Beauchemin and Denis Coderre; Charles Milliard, for his part, seems to have reserved his for another day.
Yet
Fred Beauchemin, however, forgot that he was the star economic candidate of Dominique Anglade’s campaign who presented a financial framework… with an error of 12 billion dollars. As for Denis Coderre, his two resounding failures as mayor of Montreal should perhaps also be justified and explained. We know that liberals don’t like losers.
That Pablo Rodriguez has to bear the Trudeauist record is a fact. That his rivals are making the demonization of Trudeau and his government a political argument is more surprising. Should we remember that Justin Trudeau has been much more popular in Quebec than the provincial Liberals for several years, particularly among French-speakers? What clashes with what is happening elsewhere in the country is perhaps due to someone… his name is Pablo Rodriguez.
