Deputy NDP leader Libby Davies will not seek re-election

Veteran Member of Parliament and deputy leader of the NDP, Libby Davies, will not be running for re-election. Ms. Davies, 61, was first elected as the MP for Vancouver East in 1997 and was re-elected five times. She made the announcement Friday at her constituency office. "I'm a bit tired," Ms. Davies said during a news conference in her constituency office, when asked why she was retiring from federal politics. Adding in stints in municipal politics, Ms. Davies noted she has been in public life for almost 40 years. She ran twice for Vancouver city council in the 1970s and was elected to parks board in 1980 and elected to city council in 1980. "I really feel it's time to call it a day. It's really a personal decision just about timing and contemplating if I want to go in another election and realizing once we have the election and, hopefully if I had been re-elected, it would be possibly another four years." The former Vancouver city councillor is known as a strong voice for the left wing of the NDP. In addition to serving as one of three deputy leaders to party leader Thomas Mulcair, Ms. Davies is also the party's health critic.