Winnipeg Liberal cabinet minister Dan Vandal cites age, years of service as rationale not to seek re-election

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Peggy

Dan Vandal says his decision not to seek a fourth term as MP for Saint Boniface-Saint Vital is due to a desire to move on from politics after 26 years of public service rather than the dim electoral prospects for the unpopular federal Liberal Party.

Vandal, 64, announced his decision not to seek re-election on Thursday, joining five other Liberal cabinet ministers — and 18 other members of the Liberal caucus — who do not intend to seek re-election.

While this sort of exodus is common when long-in-the-tooth governments poll poorly heading into an election cycle, Vandal said his decision to leave politics has more to do with his age and years of service as an MP and Winnipeg city councillor.

“I’ve been elected eight times in the area and I’m also turning 65,” Vandal said Thursday in an interview outside his constituency office on St. Mary’s Road in Winnipeg.

“I think that’s really good point to start a new chapter in your life, do something else, spend more time at home in Winnipeg and St. Boniface, spend more time with my three granddaughters and less time in airplanes.”

Vandal said his decision to leave the House of Commons before the next election has nothing to do with recent party popularity polls that suggest Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives lead Justin Trudeau’s Liberals by 17 to 24 percentage points.

“I’m not leaving because of the bad polling that’s occurred. I’m not leaving because of a dissatisfaction with the prime minister. I strongly support Prime Minister Trudeau. I think he’s done tremendous work over the last nine years and I think there’s another chapter there as well,” Vandal said.

“I’m confident that we can come back and we can win a fourth term, not because Justin Trudeau and the prime minister is God, but because he’s at least 50 times better than Pierre Poilievre.”

Vandal said while he believes “governments tend to defeat themselves after 10 years,” he suggested a group of Liberal caucus colleagues trying to force Trudeau out of the prime minister’s office are merely suffering from a lack of resolve.

“I think there’s a lot of younger MPs who are a little bit nervous about whether their careers are over prematurely,” he said.

“I don’t want to call them nervous Nellies, but I think they’re young, nervous Members of Parliament that are going through a tough time.”

Vandal to change gears, province to change channels

16 hours ago

2:54

CBC’s Bartley Kives reports on two big developments in Manitoba politics Thursday: the announcement by Liberal MP Dan Vandal that he won’t seek re-election after more than 25 years as a federal and municipal representative, and the provincial government’s plans to change the design of flood-mitigation channels in the Interlake.

Born in Winnipeg to a Métis family, Vandal competed as a professional boxer and earned a degree in social work before he entered politics. He was first elected as the city councillor for St. Boniface in 1995 and was re-elected twice, before resigning his seat in 2004, midway through his third term, to run for mayor of Winnipeg.

Vandal finished second to Sam Katz by 43,000 votes in that Winnipeg mayoral byelection. Two years later, Vandal won back his St. Boniface seat and served two more full terms on city council, including a stint as a member of Katz’s executive policy committee.

After declining to contest a sixth Winnipeg election, Vandal was elected to the House of Commons in 2015 as a member of Justin Trudeau’s sole Liberal majority government.

He was later appointed to cabinet and serves as the minister of northern affairs as well as the minister responsible for both the Prairies Economic Development Agency and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

Vandal said the federal government’s support for the Southern Chiefs’ Organization’s redevelopment of the former Bay building, True North Real Estate’s redevelopment of Portage Place mall and the Manitoba Métis Federation’s redevelopment of the former Bank of Montreal building, all in downtown Winnipeg, are among the efforts that made him happiest as an MP.

“Downtown revitalization has always been something I’ve worked on,” he said.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew issued a statement Thursday, praising Vandal’s work on behalf of Manitobans.

The MP said he expects to be shuffled out of cabinet in the coming weeks but will serve out the rest of his term as member of the Liberal minority government.

“I intend to be here until the next election,” he said, “whether it’s in three months or whether it’s in October of 2025.”