
A Newfoundland and Labrador member of parliament has announced that she is not running in the next federal election, happening at some point this year.
Gudie Hutchings, who represents Long Range Mountains and is minister of Rural Economic Development and responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said Thursday she will not seek re-election but would stay until an election is called.
Hutchings was first elected in 2015.
“Being elected and entrusted to serve people I have called friends, neighbours and family in the place I have called home all my life, has been the honour of a lifetime,” she wrote in a statement posted on social media.
Hutchings joins a number of Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MPs who have announced their intentions to step back from politics ahead of this year’s incoming election. Avalon MP Ken McDonald, St. John’s South-Mount Pearl MP Seamus O’Regan and Bonavista-Burin-Trinity MP Churence Rogers made their decisions over the course of 2024.
A federal election needs to take place before October, but is believed it could happen sooner. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced earlier this week he was stepping down as party leader and prime minister, and that the Parliament is prorogued until March 24.
Opposition parties have vowed to trigger an election at the earliest opportunity.
“I believe in Canada, and I love Newfoundland and Labrador, I hope that during my time as your member of parliament I have been able to help shape our country and my province for the better, for my grandchildren and yours, too,” wrote Hutchings.
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