Michael Gravelle, the Liberal MPP for Thunder Bay—Superior North, announced on Monday that he would be stepping down for the June election “after many discussions with my doctors, family, friends and staff," he wrote in a statement. Gravelle has battled a lymphoma diagnosis since 2012 and announced earlier in April that the cancer had returned.

“To say that this was a difficult decision is a massive understatement, as I had hoped and planned to continue to represent my constituents at Queen's Park. However, my health, and the treatments I need to undergo in the months ahead have made that plan impossible,” Gravelle said.

Gravelle, following former Premier Kathleen Wynne, is the second incumbent Liberal not running for re-election, leaving the party with five incumbents. Gravelle was first elected in 1995 in the precursor to Thunder Bay—Superior North, Port Arthur, and was elected in every election he has run in since. In 2018, he won by his slimmest margin of just 813 votes. Under Premier Dalton McGuinty, Gravelle was the minister of northern development and mines and minister of natural resources. Gravelle served alongside Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca in Wynne’s cabinet as minister of northern development and mines, but temporarily stepped down from the position due to a battle with depression.

In a statement released shortly after Gravelle’s, Del Duca called the retiring MPP a “Lion of the Legislature” and said, “As his friend, the last thing I want to be doing today is accepting Michael Gravelle’s decision to step away from politics. But I’m glad he and his family are deciding to put his health and his recovery first. Politics shouldn’t have anything to do with moments like these and must be set aside to put healing first.”

According to Mainstreet Research’s riding projections, as of April 20 Thunder Bay—Superior North was projected to be a safe seat for the Liberals with 46.7 per cent of the vote share with Gravelle as the candidate.

Mainstreet Research is a shareholder in the ownership of iPolitics and QP Briefing.

In brief: Liberal MPP Michael Gravelle not running in June

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