Longtime Quebec Liberal Lise Thériault won’t seek re-election in 2022

Longtime Quebec Liberal Lise Thériault says she won’t be seeking re-election in 2022.

Thériault told reporters Monday in her Montreal riding of Anjou-Louis-Riel that she’ll serve the rest of her mandate, but won’t seek another term after seven consecutive mandates spanning 20 years.

She is the first of several provincial Liberals who are expected to depart the party’s ranks ahead of the October 2022 provincial election.

Thériault says she’s leaving of her own accord and told reporters Monday she wasn’t pressured to leave by anyone in Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade’s entourage.

She says what convinced her was knowing the candidate who would succeed her, Chantale Gagnon, who was by her side at the announcement.

First elected to the national assembly in a 2002 byelection, Theriault, 55, held several cabinet positions in governments helmed by Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard.