Marco Mendicino, a former high-ranking cupboard minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s authorities, is the most recent Liberal to say he is not going to run within the subsequent federal election.
In an announcement posted on social media on Thursday night, Mendicino expressed gratitude for the robust assist of his constituents within the Toronto driving of Eglinton—Lawrence and stated he’ll keep on because the member of Parliament till the subsequent election.
“Nevertheless, as a lot as I like the job, that is the precise choice, on the proper time, for me and my household,” the assertion stated.
The previous federal prosecutor was first elected in 2015, when Trudeau led the Liberals to a majority authorities, and was re-elected in 2019 and 2021.
Mendicino was made immigration minister in 2019 earlier than shifting to public security in 2021.
As public security minister, he launched firearms laws in Might 2022 that sought to show the freeze on handgun gross sales into legislation, fight do-it-yourself weapons and ban what the federal government referred to as “assault-style” weapons. The invoice — and particularly the proposed definition of assault-style weapons — proved controversial.
The laws confronted robust opposition within the Home of Commons and the Senate earlier than finally turning into legislation in December 2023.
Mendicino was additionally in command of the general public security file when the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act for the primary time in early 2022.
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The unprecedented transfer got here after “Freedom Convoy” protesters had occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks, filling the streets with autos and forcing companies to shut. A loosely organized group, the convoy was against COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the Trudeau authorities, and protesters additionally blocked a variety of border crossings.
Mendicino was dropped from cupboard in a shuffle in July 2023, together with former justice minister David Lametti.
Trudeau’s choice to maneuver Mendicino out of his cupboard was extensively seen as a rebuke for his dealing with of the switch of infamous killer and harmful offender Paul Bernardo from a maximum-security jail earlier that spring.
Bernardo is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, torture and murders of youngsters Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy within the early Nineties.
The correctional service transferred Bernardo in Might 2023 to a medium-security facility that focuses on the remedy of sexual offenders, sparking a public uproar. The Mahaffy and French households referred to as for the choice to be reversed.
On the time, Mendicino stated he discovered the impartial correctional service’s choice “surprising and incomprehensible.” He additionally advised reporters that his workers by no means advised him Bernardo can be moved, though it was revealed that his workplace knew in regards to the plan to switch Bernardo three months earlier than it occurred.
Mendicino later issued a collection of directives to the correctional service, which aimed to make sure transfers of high-profile offenders have been higher communicated to the minister and to victims’ households. After an inside overview, the correctional service discovered the choice to approve Bernardo’s switch request was sound and adopted all relevant legal guidelines and insurance policies.
Extra just lately, Mendicino has been a vocal supporter of the Jewish neighborhood and has pressured the Liberal authorities to do extra to deal with rising antisemitism within the wake of the Israel-Hamas battle.
In his assertion, he stated it’s “no secret” that he has disagreed with the federal authorities’s method to overseas coverage, citing “our deteriorated relations with the State of Israel, our insufficient dealing with of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, and our enfeebled function within the Center East.”
“In political events, there have to be room for various views,” he wrote. “As a matter of precept, I’ve been constantly outspoken in my condemnation of the unjust focusing on of the Jewish neighborhood, which is dealing with a tidal wave of antisemitism.”
Mendicino didn’t trace at what he could do after federal politics however stated neighborhood leaders have advised him they really feel he ought to proceed to play an energetic management function in Toronto. He additionally stated he’s passionate in regards to the legislation and public coverage.
Information that Mendicino is not going to be on the Liberal poll within the subsequent election comes after weeks of chaos within the Liberal caucus.
Trudeau shuffled his cupboard in mid-December, after the bombshell information that Chrystia Freeland was stepping down as finance minister and deputy prime minister.
Freeland stated she and Trudeau disagreed over the right way to deal with the nation’s funds after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s menace to impose steep tariffs on Canadian items.
Trudeau changed her with Dominic LeBlanc, who had been public security minister since Mendicino’s ouster.
He additionally needed to substitute Sean Fraser, Carla Qualtrough, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Dan Vandal and Filomena Tassi, all of whom don’t plan to run within the subsequent election.
A rising variety of Liberal MPs have been calling for Trudeau to step down as chief since Freeland’s resignation.
The following federal vote should occur earlier than October.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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