NDP MP Nathan Cullen not running in the 2019 federal election

Make it 13.

A baker’s dozen of NDP MPs have now announced they are not running in the upcoming federal election. Five-term MP Nathan Cullen has decided not to run again.

The 46-year-old made the announcement on Friday afternoon in Smithers, B.C. in his riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley.

Cullen was the NDP’s lead voice on electoral reform.

“No, I believe it is time for someone else to have the honour and responsibility of representing our great region and its people on the national stage,” Cullen said.

“Before being elected, I made a simple promise to myself: that on the day I left politics, I would leave my family, my health and my integrity intact.”

Cullen has often been linked to provincial politics and has been rumoured as a possible B.C. NDP candidate in the next provincial election. In his goodbye letter, Cullen wished NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh the best of luck.

“To my caucus colleagues and leader, Jagmeet Singh, I wish you the very best in the coming election,” Cullen said. “To my family and friends who have seen me through this life in politics, I can’t properly put in words what your love and support has meant to me.”

Victoria MP Murray Rankin announced on Thursday that he wasn’t going to run again. Singh has been widely criticized for not being able to convince longtime MPs to stick with the party heading into the 2019 federal election.

“I am confident Nathan is going to continue to work hard for progressive values,” Singh said on Monday night following his byelection victory in Burnaby South. “He has worked hard for the New Democrats. I am confident he will make a contribution whatever his decision is.”