NDP legislator Alexandre Boulerice, the federal party's only Quebec MP, speaks at a press conference in Ottawa last October.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The lone New Democratic MP from Quebec, Alexandre Boulerice, is jumping ship to run for a provincial left-wing sovereigntist party, leaving the federal caucus with just five seats in the House of Commons weeks after the election of its new leader, Avi Lewis.
Mr. Boulerice, one of the NDP’s most prominent figures, will announce on Monday that he plans to run for Québec solidaire in a Montreal riding during a provincial election scheduled for October.
The news was confirmed Friday to The Globe and Mail by two sources with knowledge of the coming announcement. The Globe is not naming the sources as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the decision.
Mr. Boulerice was first elected to the House of Commons during the Orange Wave in 2011, when the NDP won 59 out of Quebec’s 75 seats under the leadership of Jack Layton. The party’s surge in Quebec helped propel the New Democrats to form the Official Opposition for the first time in their history.
But the NDP lost many of the gains it had made in Quebec when the Liberals formed a majority government in 2015 under former prime minister Justin Trudeau. Mr. Boulerice, the representative for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, has been the NDP’s only Quebec MP since 2019, as the federal party struggled to find its footing.
In leaving the NDP for Québec solidaire, Mr. Boulerice will be trading one progressive party with uncertain prospects for another. The provincial party has floundered in recent years, and is currently polling at or below 10 per cent. Poll aggregator Qc125 indicates that the party could be reduced in the coming election to around seven seats from the 11 it currently holds.
Mr. Boulerice’s plan to join Québec solidaire has been an open secret in the province for months, since the party announced plans to bend its own rules to allow an unnamed “left-wing sovereigntist” to run. The party had previously decided that only women or non-binary candidates would be allowed to run in ridings it currently holds whose MNAs are not seeking re-election.
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In February, co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal announced that the party planned to make an exception to this rule to allow a man to run in the Montreal riding of Gouin, which has been a party stronghold. It was widely reported that Mr. Boulerice was the candidate in question.
“This is the exception that proves the rule,” Ms. Ghazal said at the time.
Mr. Boulerice will seek to run in the riding currently held by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, a former co-spokesperson. Québec solidaire has two leaders, one man and one woman, who are referred to as spokespeople.
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois, who was a key figure in the 2012 Quebec student protests before entering politics, announced his resignation as co-spokesperson in March, 2025, amid divisions within the party, saying he was “worn out.”
Québec solidaire has been unable to make gains in popular support since then.
Donya Ziaee, the communications director for Mr. Lewis, did not have any comment on Friday on the development involving Mr. Boulerice.
Karl Bélanger, former NDP national director and president of Traxxion Stratégies, said in an interview that the exit of Mr. Boulerice is a major blow for the NDP because the departing MP was the last Quebec evidence of the Orange Wave.
To be taken seriously as a national party, Mr. Lewis and the NDP need to be able to show that they can win in Quebec, Mr. Bélanger said.
The new leader’s first challenge was to persuade Mr. Boulerice not to leave, said Mr. Bélanger, adding that the next hurdle will be to attract a candidate with a media profile and following of their own to try and hold the riding.
With a report from Ian Bailey