More Trudeau cabinet ministers not running for re-election, sources say shuffle expected soon

October 17, 2024 Canuck

Federal cabinet ministers Filomena Tassi, Carla Qualtrough, and Dan Vandal announced Thursday they will not run for re-election.

Senior government sources tell CTV News at least one other – Marie-Claude Bibeau – doesn’t plan to run again, setting the stage for Justin Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet in the coming weeks.

Coming amid growing dissent within his caucus, in statements confirming their plans to not re-offer, the three ministers expressed their support of and gratitude to the prime minister.

“My reason for making this decision is deeply personal — it’s time for me to be closer to home with my family,” wrote Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, in a two-page statement posted on social media. “This is a bittersweet decision.”

Qualtrough, who has held a series of cabinet positions and is currently the minister for sport, said it was with “mixed emotions” that she recently told Trudeau about her decision to not run again.

“It is time to move on, and I am excited to see what comes next,” she said.

Vandal, who currently holds the northern affairs portfolio, said he also has told Trudeau of his “difficult” decision to not run in 2025 “or whenever the next election is called.”

“I am working with the Prime Minister’s Office to ensure an orderly transition,” he said in a statement sent to CTV News. In it, Vandal states he “fully” supports Trudeau’s continued leadership.

Bibeau, who is currently the national revenue minister, plans to run for mayor of Sherbrooke, Que., according to sources.

All four were first elected in 2015, with both Qualtrough and Bibeau serving in cabinet since then. Tassi joined cabinet in 2017, and Vandal in 2019.

Trudeau losing these ministers comes as multiple sources tell CTV News that a group of Liberal MPs plan to ask him at next Wednesday’s caucus meeting to step aside before the next election, for the good of the party.

Other high-profile Liberals have also recently stepped down from cabinet, including former transport minister and Quebec lieutenant Pablo Rodriguez, who left to run for the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party, and former labour minister Seamus O’Regan, who quit for personal reasons.

Anticipating a larger rearrangement of the Liberal front bench this fall, two weeks ago CTV News surveyed all cabinet ministers about their plans for the next federal election.

Every office responded saying that their minister intended to run again – including Tassi, Qualtrough, and Vandal’s offices – with the exception of Bibeau, and Trade Minister Mary Ng.

Bibeau’s office responded that at the time, the minister was undecided.

Ng’s office confirmed to CTV News on Thursday that she does plan to run again.

In an interview on CTV News Channel’s Power Play, host Vassy Kapelos asked Tassi what changed in the last two weeks.

Tassi said that she’s been having conversations about whether she’d run again with the prime minister over “the last few months,” and though it’s “an emotional day,” she believes she’s made the right decision.

“You’re running until you’re not, right? And today’s the day that I have announced that I’m not running,” she said. “I had confidence in the prime minister in 2015, and I have confidence in him today.”

Asked whether the ministerial announcements were coordinated, Tassi said she had been in conversation with the PMO and “heard yesterday evening that it would be fine if I release my statement.”

In 2022, Tassi was moved out of the procurement minister portfolio at her request, stating then that she wanted to spend more time at home, for family reasons.

She swapped roles with former minister Helena Jaczek, who has since been shuffled out of cabinet entirely, and is among the more than a dozen current Liberal MPs that have announced in the last year or so that they aren’t running again.

The next federal election is scheduled for October 2025, though speculation of an early writ drop has increased in recent weeks, amid recurring Conservative tests in the House of Commons of Trudeau’s confidence, and uncertainty around how long the Bloc Quebecois and NDP will be willing to prop up the prime minister’s embattled minority government.

“The Liberal party’s prospects are not that great. So, there’s a high likelihood that many, if not all of these cabinet ministers could lose their seats if the polls hold until the next election,” said Abacus Data’s David Coletto.

“So, I think this is just indicative of a government that’s in the later stages of its life, and it’s bound to lose some senior people.”

Coletto said that while a cabinet shuffle alone will likely not be sufficient to overcome the hurdles the federal Liberals are facing or turn around their polling numbers, it could be the start of an effort to signal to Canadians that Trudeau’s government will change direction.

“It may be an opportunity, at least, for the prime minister to give it one last go,” he said.

With files from CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos and CTV’s Question Period Senior Producer Brennan MacDonald

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