Former Liberal cabinet minister Marco Mendicino not running in next election

OTTAWA — Marco Mendicino, a former high-ranking cabinet minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, is the latest Liberal to say he will not run in the next federal election.

In a statement posted on social media on Thursday evening, Mendicino expressed gratitude for the strong support of his constituents in the Toronto riding of Eglinton—Lawrence and said he will stay on as the member of Parliament until the next election.

“However, as much as I love the job, this is the right decision, at the right time, for me and my family,” the statement said.

The former federal prosecutor was first elected in 2015, when Trudeau led the Liberals to a majority government, and was re-elected in 2019 and 2021.

Mendicino was made immigration minister in 2019 before moving to public safety in 2021.

As public safety minister, he introduced firearms legislation in May 2022 that sought to turn the freeze on handgun sales into law, combat homemade guns and ban what the government called “assault-style” weapons. The bill — and especially the proposed definition of assault-style weapons — proved controversial.

The legislation faced tough opposition in the House of Commons and the Senate before eventually becoming law in December 2023.

Mendicino was also in charge of the public safety file when the government invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in early 2022.

The unprecedented move came after “Freedom Convoy” protesters had occupied downtown Ottawa for weeks, filling the streets with vehicles and forcing businesses to close. A loosely organized group, the convoy was opposed to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and the Trudeau government, and protesters also blocked a number of border crossings.

Mendicino was dropped from cabinet in a shuffle in July 2023, along with former justice minister David Lametti.

Trudeau’s decision to move Mendicino out of his cabinet was widely seen as a rebuke for his handling of the transfer of notorious killer and dangerous offender Paul Bernardo from a maximum-security prison earlier that spring.

Bernardo is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, torture and murders of teenagers Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s.

The correctional service transferred Bernardo in May 2023 to a medium-security facility that specializes in the treatment of sexual offenders, sparking a public uproar. The Mahaffy and French families called for the decision to be reversed.

At the time, Mendicino said he found the independent correctional service’s decision “shocking and incomprehensible.” He also told reporters that his staff never told him Bernardo would be moved, although it was revealed that his office knew about the plan to transfer Bernardo three months before it happened.

Mendicino later issued a series of directives to the correctional service, which aimed to ensure transfers of high-profile offenders were better communicated to the minister and to victims’ families. After an internal review, the correctional service found the decision to approve Bernardo’s transfer request was sound and followed all applicable laws and policies.

More recently, Mendicino has been a vocal supporter of the Jewish community and has pressured the Liberal government to do more to tackle rising antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

In his statement, he said it is “no secret” that he has disagreed with the federal government’s approach to foreign policy, citing “our deteriorated relations with the State of Israel, our inadequate handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and our enfeebled role in the Middle East.”

“In political parties, there must be room for different views,” he wrote. “As a matter of principle, I have been consistently outspoken in my condemnation of the unjust targeting of the Jewish community, which is facing a tidal wave of antisemitism.”

Mendicino did not hint at what he may do after federal politics but said community leaders have told him they feel he should continue to play an active leadership role in Toronto. He also said he is passionate about the law and public policy.

News that Mendicino will not be on the Liberal ballot in the next election comes after weeks of chaos in the Liberal caucus. Trudeau shuffled his cabinet in mid-December, after the bombshell news that Chrystia Freeland was stepping down as finance minister and deputy prime minister.

Freeland said she and Trudeau disagreed over how to handle the country’s finances after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods.

Trudeau replaced her with Dominic LeBlanc, who had been public safety minister since Mendicino’s ouster.

He also had to replace Sean Fraser, Carla Qualtrough, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Dan Vandal and Filomena Tassi, all of whom do not plan to run in the next election.

A growing number of Liberal MPs have been calling for Trudeau to step down as leader since Freeland’s resignation.

The next federal vote must happen before October.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2025.

Sarah Ritchie and David Baxter, The Canadian Press