The Bloc MP says he’s stepping aside for “family and personal reasons.”
Bloc MP Stéphane Bergeron announced Thursday he will not be a candidate in the next federal election.
At a press conference Thursday morning, the MP for the South Shore riding of Montarville indicated his decision was based on “family and personal reasons.”
Bergeron, 59, was first elected a Bloc MP for Verchères—Les-Patriotes in 1993, then re-elected in 1997, 2000 and 2004. He resigned in 2005 to become provincial MNA for Verchères under the Parti Québécois, until 2018. He notably served as minister of public security in the government of Pauline Marois from 2012 to 2014.
Defeated by the CAQ candidate in the 2018 election, he returned to Ottawa for the Bloc Québécois in the 2019 federal elections and was re-elected to the House of Commons in 2021. Since then, he has been spokesperson for the Bloc on matters of foreign affairs and international co-operation.
The leader of the Bloc, Yves-François Blanchet, on Thursday highlighted Bergeron’s “exceptional commitment” and “for all these years in which he invested himself without reservation and with remarkable efficiency in public service, both in relation to the priorities of the citizens of his riding as well as those of Quebec.”
Bergeron said he had, like his fellow citizens, to “face the ups and downs of life on a daily basis, with its moments of joy, of course, but also its moments of sorrow.”
“This is how life leads me to have to spend more time with my family members,” he said.