Prominent NDPer takes pass on 2019
Montreal’s Laverdière says choice will provide ‘fresh blood’ in Commons
OTTAWA— Hélène Laverdière, a prominent New Democrat from Quebec whose support helped Jagmeet Singh win the party leadership last year, will not seek re-election in 2019 after eight years in the House of Commons.
The Montreal MP said that she remains confident in Singh’s leadership and the direction of the party, but the time has come for her to step back and spend more time with her family.
“For me, it’s important to leave space for fresh blood, for new people,” Laverdière told the Star Monday.
“I’ll be 64 years old next year … At this time in my life, I want to be able to spend more time with my husband, family, friends and do all kinds of things I haven’t been able to do yet.”
Singh thanked Laverdière on Twitter for serving the people in her riding with “passion, dedication and integrity.” He wrote, “Hélène Laverdière’s lifelong commitment to international affairs, justice & human rights continues to inspire me.” st
Laverdière’s planned departure comes less than a week after another NDP stalwart, Hamilton Centre MP David Christopherson, announced his own decision not to run in the 2019 election after more than 30 years in politics.
The veteran MPs join a growing cast of incumbents who will be leaving the NDP fold in the coming months, also including former leader Thomas Mulcair, who is resigning from his seat to teach at the Université de Montréal, along with British Columbia MP Kennedy Stewart, who decided to step down in order to run for Vancouver mayor. Northern Quebec MP Romeo Saganash has also said he doesn’t plan to run again in 2019.
While none of these MPs is protesting Singh’s leadership or the direction of the party, their withdrawal does present a challenge for the NDP, said longtime party strategist Karl Bélanger.
“It creates conditions that are problematic for the NDP, because now you have at least five incumbents that are not running, which is a significant percentage of the caucus,” he said.
Moreover, Laverdière was a key backer of Singh during last year’s leadership race and is one of the party’s most recognized representatives from Quebec, Bélanger noted.
The party’s fortunes in the province have flagged dramatically since the Orange Wave breakthrough in 2011, when Laverdière unseated Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe in the downtown Montreal riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie — a win she repeated in 2015 — and also was among more than 50 NDP MPs elected from the province.
That contingent dropped to 16 in 2015, and questions have surfaced about the party’s standing in Quebec after the NDP was swamped in a federal byelection in Chicoutimi—Le Fjord last month.
“(Laverdière) was probably the most prominent backer from Quebec during the leadership race. In that sense, it is not good news for (Singh) or the party that she is stepping away,” Bélanger said.
“That said, because it is a very good seat for the NDP, this is an opportunity for the party to attract new blood in a very win- nable seat.”
Laverdière — who was a career bureaucrat in the foreign affairs department before she was elected — said the biggest highlight of her time in office has been the people she served in her riding.
After she gives up her seat, she said that she will keep advocating for issues that matter most to her: nuclear disarmament, Canadian arms sales abroad, and respect for the United Nations.
As for the NDP, she said she’s confident the appeal that brought her to support Singh during the leadership race will help him catch on with Quebecers.
“Every time that Jagmeet comes to Quebec and meets with the people, people really feel a relationship. They find a commonality of interest and values and vision,” she said.
“We still have 15 months to go (until the election) and we’ll keep working hard.”