Longtime PQ members announce they won’t seek re-election

Two prominent Parti Quebecois members of the national assembly announced Tuesday they will not run in this year’s provincial election amid reports several of their colleagues are also leaving the political scene.

Longtime politicians Alexandre Cloutier and Nicole Leger said they will serve the rest of their mandates but won’t be candidates for the Oct. 1 election.

Cloutier, 40, who sought the PQ leadership twice in recent years, said he is not excluding a return to politics in the future but that his enthusiasm has faded recently.

“I’ve gradually been losing my motivation, which previously had always been unshakable,” Cloutier told reporters in Alma.

Cloutier has represented a rid- ing in the Saguenay region since 2007 and was intergovernmental affairs minister in Pauline Marois’ short-lived minority government.

Leger, 62, who was first elected in a Montreal riding in 1996, fought back tears as she announced her departure alongside PQ Leader Jean-Francois Lisee.

“It’s time for me to pass the torch,” she said. “It’s a personal choice.”

Several reports published Tuesday suggested other longtime PQ members are also weighing their political futures.

Lisee said there’s no reason for alarm. The majority of his caucus intends to run this year and he applauded Cloutier and Leger for their difficult choices.

“At the beginning of an election year, it’s the right moment, out of respect for the members and the party and voters in the riding to announce their colours and whether they intend to run,” Lisee said. “For me ... it’s a gesture of respect.”

Montreal Le Devoir said Francois Gendron, the dean of the national assembly, won’t seek re-election.

He was first elected in 1976 and has held his seat since.

Another name mentioned by the Montreal paper is Claude Cousineau, another PQ veteran who will bow out.

Meanwhile, Le Journal de Quebec reported that Agnes Maltais and Nicolas Marceau, a former finance minister, are pondering their political futures.

The PQ currently holds 28 seats in the 125-member legislature, which is controlled by the Liberals, who hold 68 seats.