Trade Minister Ng, Justice Minister Virani won’t run in next election

OTTAWA — Justice Minister Arif Virani and Trade Minister Mary Ng are the latest federal cabinet ministers to decide against running again in the next election.

Virani posted on social media Monday that his life in politics has taken a toll on his family life. He said his wife Suchita Jain and his two sons have for the past decade “only known a life with their husband and dad in politics, frequently out of the city, sometimes out of the country.”

“People say that is the price of public service,” he wrote. “But it is hard to appreciate the toll that price takes unless you live it.”

The three-time Toronto-area MP said he made his decision after doing “considerable soul searching” over the past several weeks. His office declined an interview request.

In April 2024, Virani spoke out against a pro-Palestinian protest that was staged outside his home, saying they crossed a line by targeting his family.

Ng posted a letter on social media that cites a long list of achievements but does not explain why she is not running again.

In that letter, Ng says she fears the spread of online disinformation is discouraging qualified candidates from running for public office.

More than a dozen Liberal cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself, have ruled out running in the coming federal election.

They include Sean Fraser, Harjit Sajjan, Dan Vandal, Carla Qualtrough, Filomena Tassi, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Gudie Hutchings, and Seamus O’Regan.

Anita Anand, once widely expected to launch a bid for the party leadership, said last month she will not run again.

Pablo Rodriguez also left his cabinet portfolio and the party caucus to run for the Quebec Liberal leadership, while Randy Boissonnault resigned after becoming engulfed in controversy over allegations about his business dealings and past claims of Indigenous heritage.

Virani was first elected in 2015 in the big wave that swept Trudeau’s Liberals into office. He was promoted to cabinet to become the minister of justice in July 2023.

Virani beat NDP stalwart MP Peggy Nash in 2015 in the progressive downtown riding of Parkdale—High Park, once held by Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy.

Ng left the Prime Minister’s Office as director of appointments to run for John McCallum’s old seat in the 2017 Markham-Thornhill byelection.

She is a close friend of Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford. The two worked together in Kennedy’s office in Queen’s Park when he was Ontario’s education minister.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press