Cabinet Minister David Heurtel and Quebec Solidaire's Amir Khadir have confirmed they will not run again when this term in the National Assembly ends.

Heurtel issued a statement Friday saying there is an illness in his family which has made it impossible for him to contend with the demands of a political life.

Before being first elected in a by-election in 2013 as a Liberal MNA for the Viau riding, Heurtel worked as a political attaché for Parti Quebecois Premier Bernard Landry. He also served as the general manager for the Olympic Installations Board in Montreal.

Heurtel said a key factor in his joining the Liberal Party was the discomfort he felt as the PQ championed its discriminatory Charter of Values, which would have banned the wearing of religious symbols.

Heurtel spent two and a half years as environment minister and during that time he was criticized for ‘Flushgate’: permitting Montreal's request for a short-term dump of raw sewage into waterways, even though that is a common practice in Canada.

After becoming immigration minister last October, Heurtel has been praised for how he has handled the influx of asylum seekers entering the province.

Premier Philippe Couillard has nothing but kind words for the outgoing minister.

“He has really modernized the way we are dealing with immigration selection, integration, education. So he's made a significant and useful contribution to Quebec and I wish him all the best,” he said.

Heurtel is the fourth cabinet minister to confirm they will not run again, joinging Jean-Marc Fournier, Stephanie Vallee and Martin Coiteux.

In total 13 Liberal MNAs have announced they will not run again. While the premier said he’s losing experienced members of his team, he also called it a change to bring in new blood.

“It also creates opportunities of renewing our team and we have lots of people raising their hands to run for us in different ridings,” he said.

Pollster Philippe Fournier of the website QC125.com said he believes if new faces replace the Charest-era MNAs, it could help the Liberals, because the CAQ is now saying it is the only party that represents change.

“I would say with all this Liberal fatigue and all those ministers leaving, we still have the Liberals in tight with the CAQ and they still have a chance to win the election in October,” he said.

 

Meantime, half a dozen Parti Quebecois MNAs have also said they are leaving politics, and on Friday the first Quebec Solidaire MNA said he would step down.

Khadir was elected to the Mercier riding on Dec. 8, 2008 as the first and at the time only Quebec Solidaire MNA.

During his ten years in office, he has been a firm supporter of women's rights, and also made waves when he demonstrated outside a store selling products imported from Israel.

A vocal critic of austerity Khadir said he'll continue to fight for social causes, and will donate his transition pay to community groups

“There are other ways to contribute and we have a lot of jobs to do and I just leave it because we don't want to make politics a career. It has to be short,” he said.

An avowed separatist, in his farewell speech Khadir reminded the party's supporters to keep pushing for an independent Quebec.

"Dream of that country, dream of the republic, the independent republic of Quebec. So we have to fight for it," said Khadir.

The doctor said, as he always did, that the way to do that is by opposing capitalism and providing better benefits for all.

"There is a problem with the sovereignist movement because in the last 10-15 years it has been dominated by figures, and an elite, that has made a lot of mistakes, the biggest of them being plunging us into austerity policies just as the Liberals are doing now but also policies of resentment," said Khadir.

Khadir said that he has served three terms and never wanted to be a professional politician, but will remain active with the party.

Khadir, 56, will return to his medical career.