Federal Cabinet Minister Filomena Tassi announced Thursday she will not run for re-election, and sources tell CTV News at least three other cabinet ministers don’t plan to run again.
Their decisions will prompt a cabinet shuffle for which a date has not been set. It is likely to occur in the coming weeks, according to senior government sources.
“My reason for making this decision is deeply personal — it’s time for me to be closer to home with my family,” Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, wrote in a two-page statement posted on social media. “This is a bittersweet decision.”
Sources tell CTV News at least three other cabinet ministers don’t plan to run again. Sports Minister Carla Qualtrough, National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, and Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal will not put their names back on the ballot.
Both Qualtrough and Bibeau have been in cabinet since 2015. Tassi joined cabinet in 2017, and Vandal in 2019.
CTV News surveyed all cabinet ministers two weeks ago about their plans for the next federal election.
Every minister’s office responded, with the exception of Trade Minister Mary Ng’s, though her office confirmed to CTV News on Thursday that she does plan to run again.
Of the 36 initial responses — including from Tassi and Qualtrough’s offices — 35 confirmed plans to run in the next election.
Only Bibeau’s office responded that the minister was undecided. She plans to run for mayor of Sherbrooke, Que. according to sources.
The news comes amid growing dissent in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s caucus. Multiple sources tell CTV News that a group of Liberal MPs plan to ask him to step aside from the party’s leadership at next Wednesday’s caucus.
More details to come.
With files from CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos and CTV’s Question Period Senior Producer Brennan MacDonald