Liberal MP Sean Fraser changes mind, will seek re-election: sources

Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Sean Fraser is cancelling his plans to retire from politics and will announce today he will seek re-election in his Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, CBC News has learned.

Multiple sources say Fraser made the decision Monday after a phone call from Liberal Leader Mark Carney asking him to reconsider. 

Fraser announced in December he wouldn’t run again because of the strain the job placed on his family life. But sources say Carney reassured Fraser they would find a way to balance his workload with his family life. 

Fraser and Carney are expected to appear together at an event later today in Nova Scotia where the news will be officially announced.

Asked about the news in Halifax, Carney all but confirmed the CBC News story, saying Fraser is an “exceptional public servant.”

“I and my colleagues have wanted Sean Fraser to come back and serve Canada at this crucial time. Sean stepping up for our country, if that indeed is what he’s going to announce later today, is exceptionally good news for Canada,” he said.

Fraser stepped down from the federal cabinet in December when he announced he wouldn’t run again. He was the federal housing minister until then, and immigration minister before that.

The Liberals nominated a candidate to run in Central Nova last week. The nominee, Graham Murray, was the only Nova Scotia Liberal candidate absent from Carney’s appearance in Halifax on Tuesday.

Fraser is not the first high-profile Liberal to change their mind about running in the upcoming election. Cabinet minister Anita Anand had said she would not run again, but changed her mind last month.

New Brunswick MP Wayne Long and Ontario MP Helena Jaczek also said they would not run again, but then reversed course.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seized on the news to reiterate his point that a Carney Liberal government would lead to more of the same, and criticized Fraser’s record on the immigration and housing files.

“He helped contribute to creating this crisis in the first place. And now Mark Carney and the Liberals say that he should be back,” Poilievre told reporters in Vaughan, Ont.