Milliard calls for ex-Liberal MNA to be permanently banned from party

Independent MNA Sona Lakhoyan Olivier speaks at the entrance of a Quebec Liberal caucus meeting at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Liberal leader Charles Milliard wants MNA Sona Lakhoyan Olivier stripped of her party membership card and is demanding a major shake-up within her riding association.

“I have convened the party executive to demand that Ms. Sona Lakhoyan Olivier’s membership card be revoked immediately and permanently. I have also asked the party to appoint a new person as president of the Chomedey association and to undertake a complete restructuring of its executive,” the Liberal leader said in a press release on Friday.

On Thursday, Lakhoyan Olivier was severely reprimanded by the National Assembly’s Ethics Commissioner, Ariane Mignolet, for conducting partisan activities during the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) leadership race in her constituency office. The MNA also obstructed the commissioner’s work.

In her report, Mignolet said that Sona Lakhoyan Olivier’s office and staff “were used for partisan purposes between April and June 2025, and increasingly so at two pivotal moments in the race.”

Lakhoyan Olivier supported Pablo Rodriguez in the leadership race. At the time, her sister, Zepure Lakhoyan, was acting president of the Chomedey County Association. She is no longer in that position.

Zepure Lakhoyan is mentioned in the commissioner’s report. “The participation of staff members in partisan activities was required by the Member of the National Assembly and her sister during this period, including during their normal working hours,” the report stated.

The commissioner recommends a $8,000 penalty due to the “seriousness of the breaches” and the “MNA’s lack of respect toward her staff members and the National Assembly.”

Lakhoyan Olivier was expelled from the Liberal caucus last December when the investigation was launched.

Shortly after the report was released, the Liberal leader stated that her expulsion was final, arguing that the MNA’s actions were “incompatible with the values and standards we hold ourselves to.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 8, 2026.

Patrice Bergeron, The Canadian Press