David Birnbaum becomes 9th Liberal MNA to announce exit from politics
With less than six months to go before the next provincial election, the Official Opposition at Quebec’s National Assembly has lost another veteran politician.
David Birnbaum, the MNA for the D’Arcy-McGee riding — which is mainly comprised of the municipalities of Hampstead and Côte Saint-Luc on the Montreal island — will not be running for re-election this fall.
He was first elected in 2014, winning by a landslide with 92 per cent of the vote.
Birnbaum is now the ninth Liberal MNA to announce that this current mandate will be their last.
Longtime Liberals Gaétan Barrette, Hélène David, Lise Thériault, Monique Sauvé, Jean Rousselle, Francine Charbonneau, and Nicole Ménard are the other MNAs who have announced they won’t be running again.
“For us, it’s not a surprise. All these conversations happened months ago,” said Jeremy Ghio, a spokesperson for the Quebec Liberal Party, who added that the departures are not symptoms of a reeling political party.
“It’s normal, it’s just a cycle.”
The Liberals currently hold 27 seats at the National Assembly, a steep drop from the 68 seats the party held heading into the 2018 elections.
