Catherine Dorion won't be seeking re-election this fall
CBC
Taschereau, Que. MNA Catherine Dorion has announced she won't be running in the provincial election this fall, saying she wants to dedicate more time to activism.
The Québec solidaire (QS) MNA made the announcement in a 15-minute video posted to Facebook on Friday, calling it a love letter to those in her constituency.
She said she wants to continue to fight for the causes that are close to her heart, but in a different way.
"I want to advocate on the ground, in theaters and in bars, in books and through people, and I want to put all my time into it," she said.
"I fought for four years to bring art back into politics; now what I want to do is take my chunk of political experience and bring that back to where I've come from, into art and into popular education. Because if the field of institutional politics clearly needs a fighter, the field of art needs them just as much."
She said she hopes that others like her will have the courage to take her place.
"I know that politics is not always tempting, that it can be off-putting and all," she said. "But it's like the dishes: at some point, someone will have to do it."
The MNA will take questions from the media on Monday morning, her spokesperson said, adding the announcement was not an April Fool's joke.
Dorion was elected in 2018 among nine other QS candidates, including six who claimed seats in Montreal. She was the first QS candidate to take the riding in the Quebec City area, and succeeded longtime Parti Québécois MNA Agnès Maltais.
The MNA for the riding that includes downtown Quebec City as well as Montcalm, Saint-Roch and Saint-Sauveur is the first in the party to announce that she won't be running on Oct. 3.
"Catherine will remain a strong voice for the left, you will continue to hear her bring her different vision to Quebec's public sphere,' the party wrote on Friday, confirming her departure.
It has announced several candidates in recent weeks, including immigration lawyer Guillaume Cliche-Rivard who will be running in Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne riding in the southwest of Montreal, and medical specialist Mélissa Généreux, who will run in the Saint-François riding in the Eastern Townships.
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