NDP losing another MP, down to five, as Boulerice to announce resignation

OTTAWA — NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice will be announcing on Monday that he will soon be leaving federal politics to run in the upcoming Quebec election in October, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to National Post. His resignation will reduce the dwindling federal NDP caucus to five.

Boulerice, who is the last man standing from the so-called “orange wave” in Quebec in 2011, will announce that he is formally seeking the nomination for the provincial democratic socialist party Québec Solidaire (QS) in the Montreal riding of Gouin, which a safe seat for QS.

The news was first reported by Le Journal de Montréal on Friday.

Boulerice had been publicly musing about running provincially for months , and QS had seemingly rolled out the red carpet for him by amending its limits on male candidates to allow him to run.

But newly elected NDP Leader Avi Lewis had urged Boulerice to reconsider and to stay on board with the NDP.

“I looked him in the eye and said, ‘Please, stay with us,’” said Lewis last month .

The source, who declined to be named because they were not allowed to publicly comment on the matter, said Boulerice wants to run provincially with QS to counter what he sees as the rise of right-of-centre political parties in the provincial legislature. The Parti Québécois is currently leading in provincial polls and the Quebec Conservative Party has surpassed QS in the polls.

Still, Boulerice’s nomination for Gouin is not a done deal yet. The nomination process for the riding was originally set to open in March but was pushed to next week. Even though Boulerice is so far the only candidate who has expressed wanting to run, others might be tempted to join too.

The NDP has been asked to comment but has not responded so far.

More details to follow…

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