NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice to resign, setting up early test for Avi Lewis: sources

Boulerice’s widely anticipated exit will force the six-seat NDP to defend its only riding in Quebec in a potential three-way race for the Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie seat highly coveted by the Bloc Québécois and Mark Carney’s Liberals, who now have a slim majority in Parliament.

Boulerice did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday afternoon. He is expected to seek the Quebec Solidaire nomination in the provincial riding of Gouin, which overlaps with the riding he represents in the House of Commons.

That jump was widely seen as imminent after the MP publicly said he was considering it and Quebec Solidaire altered its nomination rules to allow Boulerice to run under its banner. The news was first reported by Le Journal de Montréal on Friday.

The veteran MP had been mulling stepping down from federal politics for a while, NDP sources have previously told the Star, but the prospect of his departure has scared New Democrats who worry they won’t be able to hold onto the seat, the final remnant of the party’s 2011 Orange Wave.

The exit is a blow to the NDP, which lost another of its MPs to the Liberals last month.

Lewis, who won the party’s leadership convincingly just under a month ago, had been trying to convince Boulerice to stay.

New Democrats have been peppered with questions about Boulerice’s plans in recent weeks, including during the Lewis’s debut Parliament Hill news conference, where they tried to keep the focus on a pitch to address the cost of living by tackling retailers’ “surveillance pricing.”

In an interview on CBC’s “Power and Politics” last week, Lewis appeared to forecast an exit, defending Boulerice’s looming decision before it had been announced.

He said that while Boulerice “would leave a giant hole if he left,” the NDP was “braced for it.”

“At least it’s not a floor-crossing,” Lewis quipped, pointing out that Boulerice would be leaving for a party that is “fighting for the same values.”

Pressed by reporters during that news conference, Boulerice would only say, “I’m really happy to be here. I’m happy to do my job as a member of Parliament and inside the NDP caucus.” 

Later, he joked to the Star that talk of his future had become a distraction to the NDP.

A byelection in the riding is expected to be a test for the cash-strapped NDP in a province where its popularity has fallen drastically since its 2011 peak.

It’s also an early challenge for Lewis, who won the NDP leadership by showing off his organizing skills and breaking fundraising records during a race that saw the party gain thousands of members in Quebec.

That race was a mixed bag for francophone New Democrats like Boulerice, with French skills generally lacking among the pool of leadership contenders.

Quebec Solidaire has 12 seats in the National Assembly, and sits in fifth place in most polls. A provincial election must be held in October at the latest.