Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is not running for MP in his Papineau riding in the upcoming election. Trudeau added he has not had time to think about what he will do next after stepping down.
"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says in addition to not leading the Liberals into the next election, he will not be seeking his seat in the Quebec riding of Papineau.
“In terms of my own decisions, I will not be running in the upcoming election,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference alongside Canada’s premiers.
“As to what I might be doing later, I honestly haven’t had much time to think about that at all, I am entirely focused on doing the job that Canadians elected me to do in an extraordinarily pivotal time right now.”
The remarks come slightly more than a week after Trudeau announced he would resign from his leadership and as prime minister once the party chooses a new leader, which the Liberals announced last Thursday would take place March 9.The comment indicates Trudeau will remain as a member of Parliament after resigning as prime minister and Liberal Party leader until such time as an election is called.
Once the writs are issued, he would cease to be the MP of Papineau.
Trudeau was first elected as MP for the riding in 2008."
Fredericton MP joins exodus of Liberals not seeking another term in next election
Jenica Atwin was first elected for Greens but later crossed floor to Liberals
Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin has decided not to run in the next federal election.
She joins a number of Liberal MPs who've announced they're not running, including former cabinet minister Harjit Sajjan, who said Wednesdy that he won't run in his Vancouver South riding.
CBC News had sought an interview with Atwin about whether she would try for a third term, but the interview was declined. A spokesperson emailed a statement on Wednesday.
"After much deliberation, Jenica made the decision that it is in the best interest of her family that she take a step back from federal politics for the time being," Katherine McAllister wrote.
"She will not be running for re-election."
Atwin was one of three Green Party members elected to Parliament in 2019 and the first Green to be elected from Atlantic Canada.
She later crossed the floor to sit with the governing Liberals and was re-elected in a close race against Conservative Andrea Johnson a few months later.
In 2023, she was named parliamentary secretary to the minister of Indigenous services.
A former teacher and community organizer in Oromocto, southeast of Fredericton, Atwin was among the MPs calling in recent months for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's resignation.
The Liberals are in the midst of a leadership contest now that Trudeau has announced plans to resign. A federal election has to take place before October.
Liberal cabinet minister Sajjan not seeking re-election, rallies against 'toxic and polarized' climate
Vancouver South MP was defence minister from 2015 to 2021
Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan joined the list of Liberal MPs who aren't seeking re-election on Wednesday.
In an announcement on social media, the former army veteran said he won't re-offer in his riding of Vancouver South and thanked the community for raising him and teaching him the "importance of service and pursuing one's goals with commitment and integrity."
While Sajjan said he's leaving office "with a sense of confidence in the future," the minister also called for a return to decency and honour in public debate.
"Sadly, over the past few years, our political landscape has become increasingly toxic and polarized, with more aggressive rhetoric and even physical threats. This environment not only takes a significant toll on politicians, but also on our ability to raise our children in a healthy and safe way," he wrote.
"We can and must find find our way back to civility by embracing respect for each other."
Please see my statement.
Sajjan has been a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet since the party formed government in 2015, when he was appointed minister of defence.
He was tasked with acquiring a fleet of new fighter jets and developing a new defence strategy for the country, but faced heated criticism over his handling of the military sexual misconduct crisis.
In 2021, he was censured by the House of Commons as accusations against the ranks and leadership rocked the force. The formal rebuke also took aim at Sajjan for "misleading Canadians about his service record," after he claimed he was the "architect" of Operation Medusa, a Canadian-led offensive in the Afghanistan war.
After the 2021 election, he was given the international development portfolio and later shuffled into emergency preparedness.
A handful of now former cabinet members have said they aren't seeking re-election, including Seamus O'Regan (labour and seniors), Pablo Rodriguez (transport) Marie-Claude Bibeau (national revenue), Carla Qualtrough (sports), Filomena Tassi (economic development for Southern Ontario) and Dan Vandal (Northern affairs).
Rodriguez also resigned as MP and is running to lead the Liberal Party of Quebec.
In his statement, Sajjan thanked Trudeau for his "leadership and unwavering commitment to Canada."
On Tuesday, he endorsed former central banker Mark Carney, praising the former Bank of Canada governor's role navigating the country during the 2008 global financial crisis.
"Canada is the greatest country on Earth: we need builders, unifiers and proud Canadians with experience — Mark embodies some of the best attributes of Canada," Sajjan wrote on social media earlier this week.
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Yvonne Jones, Gudie Hutchings join national exodus of Liberals who won't run in next federal election
5 of 6 elected N.L. Liberals stepping away from Ottawa
A long-serving Newfoundland and Labrador member of parliament is poised to announce that her long political career is coming to a close and she will not be running in the next federal election.
CBC News has learned that Liberal Labrador MP Yvonne Jones is also stepping away from federal politics and won't be running in the next election.
Jones is holding a news conference on Friday in Happy Valley-Goose Bay where she is expected to officially make the announcement.
She's currently the parliamentary secretary to the minister of Northern Affairs and to the minister of National Defence.
Jones, 56, has been active in politics at all levels for years. She was mayor of Mary's Harbour from 1991 to 1996, before making the leap to provincial politics as the MHA for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair until 2013. That same year, Jones was first elected as an MP.
Jones has faced repeated health challenges in recent years. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. In 2022 she announced she would be taking a break from politics after receiving a second cancer diagnosis.
Jones wasn't alone in making political headlines on Thursday.
Gudie Hutchings, who represents Long Range Mountains and is minister of Rural Economic Development and responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, also announced she will not seek re-election, but would stay on board until an election is called.
Jones and Hutchings join a number of Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MPs who have announced their intentions to step back from politics ahead of this year's election. Avalon MP Ken McDonald, St. John's South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O'Regan and Bonavista-Burin-Trinity MP Churence Rogers made their decisions over the course of 2024.
N.L. has seven seats in the House of Commons. A spokesperson for St. John's East Liberal MP Joanne Thompson — who was recently folded into Justin Trudeau's cabinet as minister of seniors — confirmed to CBC News on Thursday that she will be running in the next election.
Clifford Small, Conservative MP of Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame, appears to be forging ahead as the federal Tories continue to ride a wave of momentum.
Gudie Hutchings won't be seeking re-election in this year's federal election. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
A federal election needs to take place before October, but is believed it could happen sooner. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced earlier this week he was stepping down as party leader and prime minister, and that the Parliament is prorogued until March 24.
Opposition parties have vowed to trigger an election at the earliest opportunity.
Hutchings was first elected in 2015.
"Being elected and entrusted to serve people I have called friends, neighbours and family in the place I have called home all my life, has been the honour of a lifetime," she wrote in a statement posted on social media.
"I believe in Canada, and I love Newfoundland and Labrador, I hope that during my time as your member of parliament I have been able to help shape our country and my province for the better, for my grandchildren and yours, too."
She cited family as the reason behind her decision to not run for a fourth term and that in her time as a politician she has become a grandmother and that her older sister and brother-in-law both died.
"Changes like this are a fact of life, and we have to enjoy the time we are here, but these changes force us to take stock. If time was no issue, I would serve another ten years," Hutchings wrote.
Hutchings was re-elected in 2019 and was then appointed as the parliamentary secretary to the minister for women and gender equality and rural economic development.
She once again returned to Ottawa in the 2021 federal election and was then appointed to the Rural Economic Development portfolio.
In the summer of 2023, Trudeau shuffled his cabinet where Hutchings landed as the minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
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Former Liberal cabinet minister Marco Mendicino not seeking re-election
Letter from Mendicino repeats disagreement over the Liberal government’s approach to Middle East
Ontario Liberal MP Marco Mendicino not seeking re-election | Canada Tonight
Liberal MP Marco Mendicino will not seek re-election, saying it's "the right time, for me and my family" to step aside.
The former cabinet minister made the announcement in a letter posted to social media on Thursday.
Mendocino wrote that he would serve as MP for Toronto's Eglinton—Lawrence riding for the rest of the parliamentary session, but also repeated his criticism of his government's approach to the Middle East.
"It is no secret that I have disagreed with the current direction of the federal government on our foreign policy vis-a-vis our deteriorated relations with the State of Israel, our inadequate handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and our enfeebled role in the Middle East," wrote Mendicino.
"As a matter of principle, I have been consistently outspoken in my condemnation of the unjust targeting of the Jewish community, which is facing a tidal wave of antisemitism."
In the National Post in January, Mendicino and fellow Liberal MP Anthony Housefather chastised Canada for staying "on the sidelines" of an International Court of Justice case against Israel, writing that Canada "should categorically reject the claim of genocide."
Cabinet and controversy
Mendicino was once a key player in the Liberal cabinet, accepting the immigration file in 2019 and the public safety file in 2021.
His time as public safety minister, however, saw him embroiled in multiple controversies.
In the months before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled him out of cabinet in 2023, Mendicino faced calls for his resignation over serial killer Paul Bernardo's transfer to a medium-security prison.
Mendicino's office told CBC News that his staff knew about the transfer for three months, but didn't inform the minister until after it had happened.
Mendicino also held the public safety file through the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests, when the Liberals invoked the Emergencies Act.
He also oversaw the Liberals' controversial gun control legislation, C-21, making amendments as groups including firearms advocates and Indigenous communities warned that overly broad definitions of assault-style firearms would ban hunting rifles and shotguns.
List of Liberals not seeking re-election grows
Mendicino won his seat in Trudeau's first government in 2015 as a political giant killer.
His Thursday letter references his feats in beating former Conservative MP Eve Adams for the Liberal candidacy, and besting then-Conservative finance minister Joe Oliver in the election.
Mendicino writes that serving was the "honour of a lifetime," and expresses "gratitude to my Liberal MP and former Cabinet colleagues, who have my respect and admiration."
He does not mention Trudeau by name.
By bowing out before the next election, Mendicino joins a growing list of at least 30 Liberal MPs who will not seek re-election. That list includes other MPs who have served with Trudeau since 2015 and as well as other former cabinet ministers.
Marie-Claude Bibeau, Carla Qualtrough, Filomena Tassi, Dan Vandal, Seamus O'Regan, Pablo Rodriguez and Sean Fraser each announced they would not seek re-election while still in cabinet.
Sean Fraser says he's leaving cabinet, won’t seek re-election
Sean Fraser to leave federal cabinet as PMO pushes to add Mark Carney
Cabinet shuffle could happen as soon as Wednesday, sources say
Housing Minister Sean Fraser will announce on Monday that he will not seek re-election in his Nova Scotia riding and will leave the federal cabinet during the next shuffle, CBC News has learned.
Sources say that cabinet shuffle could happen as soon as Wednesday.
The push to change Justin Trudeau's inner circle before the Christmas holidays comes as the prime minister and his senior advisers mount yet another effort to convince former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney to join the cabinet, according to multiple high-level Liberal sources.
The ongoing attempts to convince Carney to join cabinet were first reported by the Globe and Mail. Liberal sources tell CBC News that Carney has been more open to the idea than in the past, but it is still not a done deal.
But as they try to add Carney, the Prime Minister's Office is also preparing to lose Fraser — widely seen as one of the Liberals' best communicators — who has been handling the politically important housing file.
Sources say Fraser is leaving for family reasons, something he has commented on publicly before. The time and travel required by his portfolio makes it difficult to spend time in his rural Nova Scotia riding with his wife, eight-year-old daughter and three-year-old son.
Fraser's decision is unrelated to the push to add Carney to cabinet, sources say.
Fraser has represented the riding of Central Nova in the House of Commons since 2015. His departure compounds the need for Trudeau to add new blood to his cabinet.
He already has to replace ministers who do not plan to seek re-election – including Minister of National Revenue Marie-Claude Bibeau; Carla Qualtrough, the minister of sport; Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for economic development for southern Ontario; and Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal.
Trudeau also has to find a full-time replacement for former Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, who resigned from cabinet last month amid allegations about his business dealings and criticism of his shifting claims about his Indigenous ancestry.
Since Boissonnault's departure, Ginette Petitpas Taylor has added the employment portfolio to her duties as veterans affairs minister. She joined Anita Anand as a minister with two portfolios. Anand has been pulling double duty as president of the Treasury Board and transport minister ever since Pablo Rodriguez left cabinet and caucus to pursue the Quebec Liberal leadership.
Those openings — and the possibility that even more cabinet ministers may still decide not to seek re-election — provide ample opportunity for Trudeau to add new blood to the cabinet, including the long-courted Carney.
In September, Carney agreed to chair a Liberal Party task force on economic growth ahead of the next federal election. But while Carney's name has been linked to joining Trudeau's cabinet — or even running to succeed the prime minister as Liberal leader — he has to this point rejected those overtures.
Mark
Carney, who has served as governor of both the Bank of Canada and the
Bank of England, speaks at the Sustainable Finance conference in Ottawa
on Nov. 28. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
There have also been conversations with Carney and other prominent Canadians about establishing a U.S.-Canada council to deal with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.
Although it is not required for a cabinet member to have a seat in Parliament, there have also been conversations with Carney about where he could run if and when needed.
Whether the cabinet includes Carney or not, multiple Liberal sources say there is a push to shake up the departments, with Wednesday as the target date. But the sources all caution that if the pieces don't fall into place, it could be pushed off until early January.
There is an urgency to refresh the cabinet not only to replace the retiring ministers, but also to reorient the focus of the government to respond to the challenges presented by Trump's return to the White House next month.
Trump has caused a political and economic frenzy with his threat of 25 per cent tariffs if Ottawa doesn't take what he considers to be appropriate steps to better secure the Canada-U.S. border against fentanyl and human trafficking.
He says he wants to see meaningful action by his inauguration on Jan. 20. The senior ranks of the Trudeau government acknowledge they need to have their full team in place and prepared by then to confront whatever comes next from the returning Trump administration.
That team won't include Fraser, who will speak publicly about his future on Monday. There has been speculation he might eventually consider a move to provincial politics.
The Nova Scotia Liberal Party was reduced to just two seats and third-party status in the provincial election on Nov. 26. Leader Zach Churchill stepped down after a judicial recount confirmed that he lost his riding in southwest Nova Scotia.
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With files from John Paul Tasker and Kate McKenna
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-cabinet-ministers-1.7354626
4 more Trudeau cabinet ministers won't seek re-election: sources
Prime minister to shuffle cabinet in coming weeks, sources say
Four more federal cabinet ministers will not run for re-election, Radio-Canada has learned, meaning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will reshuffle his cabinet at a time when his leadership is increasingly fragile.
Marie-Claude Bibeau (National Revenue), Carla Qualtrough (Sports), Filomena Tassi (Economic Development for Southern Ontario) and Dan Vandal (Northern Affairs) have informed the prime minister they won't be running in the next federal election.
They were all elected in the 2015 election. Ministers Bibeau and Qualtrough have held ministerial positions since then. Bibeau is considering a run for mayor of Sherbrooke, scheduled for fall 2025.
The four ministers will be removed from cabinet in a reshuffle scheduled for the coming weeks, sources told Radio-Canada.
The prime minister has yet to set a date for the shuffle. Some of his advisors believe it would be better to wait for the outcome of the U.S. election on Nov. 5 before finalizing the new ministerial team.
New faces expected in cabinet: sources
This brings the number of ministers who have opted not to stand for re-election since the start of the summer to six, following the loss of two big names close to Trudeau: Seamus O'Regan and Pablo Rodriguez.
According to Radio-Canada's count, 24 elected members of the Liberal caucus don't intend to seek re-election. That's not counting the seven MPs who have resigned since the last election, including former ministers Marc Garneau, David Lametti and Carolyn Bennett.
A major reshuffle in the summer of 2023 was supposed to give the government new life and replace ministers nearing retirement. Since then, the prime minister has been unable to gain ground against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the polls. This new wave of departures risks fuelling the perception of a government in disarray.
CBC's Poll Tracker shows the Conservatives maintaining a nearly 20-point lead over the Liberals.
Organized effort to oust Trudeau
The news of the ministers' departures comes at a turbulent time for Trudeau. A group is organizing to try to push him out by circulating a document calling for his departure; at least 20 elected representatives have signed it. Their intention is to confront the prime minister at next week's caucus meeting in Ottawa.
Some Liberal MPs have not hesitated to call for his departure publicly, such as Sean Casey, who says he has listened to the mood of his Charlottetown constituents.
"The message that I've been getting loud and clear — and more and more strongly as time goes by — is that it is time for [Trudeau] to go. And I agree," Casey told Power & Politics host David Cochrane in an exclusive interview Tuesday. "People have had enough. They've tuned him out and they want him to go."
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, asked to respond to the effort by a group of MPs, reiterated her support for Trudeau.
"He's the prime minister. There are conversations in caucus.... He'll make the decision. Period," she explained in an interview on Radio-Canada's En direct avec Patrice Roy on Wednesday.
"Some MPs may be looking more in the rear-view mirror than forward," Jean-Yves Duclos, Trudeau's new Quebec lieutenant, said at a press briefing on Wednesday. "I reaffirm my confidence and gratitude in Mr. Trudeau's leadership."
MP Joël Lightbound said he was uncomfortable with the secretive nature of the process initiated by some colleagues who want to show Trudeau the door.
"I'm a loyal person. If I have something to say, I won't do it with my face covered, I'll do it with my face uncovered. That's what bothers me about this move," he told reporters on Wednesday.
- Just Asking wants to know: What questions do you have about Justin Trudeau's political future? Fill out the details on this form and send us your questions ahead of our show on Saturday.
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