Vincent Marissal won't seek re-election after quitting Québec solidaire
Vincent Marissal, the Montreal MNA who quit Québec solidaire after flirting with a floor crossing to the Parti Québécois, now plans to quit politics altogether.
“After kilometres of walking, running and cross-country skiing in the snow in this harsh winter, I decided to quit politics at the end of my mandate,” Marissal said in a Monday morning Facebook post.
“I need to find myself again, to leave the pervasive spotlight of public life,” he said. “The last thing I want is to return to controversy, a nasty back-and-forth or argument.”
In November, Marissal
announced his departure from QS
minutes after his former caucus had voted to kick him out. Marissal had said he had planned to inform the caucus ahead of his move, but that his hand was forced after colleagues caught whiff of the plans. Marissal now sits as an independent.
Marissal didn’t mince words when announcing his November departure, calling QS “a party paralyzed by its base.” QS is an ungovernable party, Marissal had argued, with a caucus and base that are too far apart.
“I need to cut all ties with QS,” he said in November. “I am choking. I need to take a step back. I need air.”
QS co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal accused Marissal of “betrayal” for speaking to PQ ahead of his departure. “I could not believe it,” she said at the time. “It’s like being cheated on by your spouse.”
Marissal, a former La Presse reporter, said he would remain an MNA for Rosemont until the election, scheduled for October at the latest.