At least five of the sixteen New Democrat MPs that Quebec sent to the House of Commons in 2015 will not appear on a ballot for re-election this fall.
Hochelaga MP Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet and Salaberry—Suroît MP Anne Minh-Thu Quach announced separately on Thursday that they will not seek re-election at the federal election scheduled to be held this October. Both will remain in their jobs until parliament is dissolved this summer.
Both Boutin-Sweet and Quach were first elected back in 2011 during the "orange wave" that saw the NDP catapulted to the official opposition benches after winning over fifty seats in this province under then-leader Jack Layton.
63-year-old Boutin-Sweet, who was re-elected by just 500 votes four years ago, said representing her east-end riding "requires a lot of time and energy", which she says she doesn't have anymore. Quach, meanwhile, is pregnant with her second child and has a young daughter about to start school.
The two MPs join three others from the party's Quebec caucus that won't run for re-election this fall: Hélène Laverdière (Laurier—Sainte-Marie) and Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou), as well as former party leader and current CJAD 800 political contributor Tom Mulcair. Mulcair resigned his seat of Outremont last August, and a by-election to fill the vacant seat is being held on Monday.
The Outremont by-election seems set to shed light on how dire the federal NDP's situation is in la Belle Province.
The seat is considered Liberal candidate Rachel Bendayan's to lose — running against then-NDP leader Mulcair four years ago, she posted a surprisingly-strong showing — but a strong showing from the New Democrats' Julia Sanchez could mean a sigh of relief for the party, and potentially stave off further resignations from the party's Quebec caucus ahead of this fall's vote.