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.