Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett has announced that she will not stand for re-election as a member of Parliament.
Bennett said she met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to let him know, and added that serving her Toronto-St. Paul’s constituents has been the “best job.”
The news came as Bennett announced government funding for a 988 suicide crisis hotline in Toronto on Monday.
The longtime Liberal was first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 after working as a family physician and an associate professor at the University of Toronto.
Before her current role, she served as the minister of Crown-Indigenous relations and the minister of Indigenous and northern affairs.
She was also a minister of state for public health under former prime minister Paul Martin.