Steven Guilbeault officially resigns Montreal seat of Laurier-Sainte-Marie

Steven Guilbeault officially resigns Montreal seat of Laurier-Sainte-Marie CANADIAN PRESS STAFF OTTAWA THE CANADIAN PRESS PUBLISHED 5 HOURS AGO UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO Open this photo in gallery: Steven Guilbeault makes his way to a Liberal Party of Canada caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 27. SPENCER COLBY/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to schedule another six by-elections for the coming months. Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault officially resigned his Montreal seat on Friday, according to the House of Commons website. The MP for Laurier–Sainte-Marie has said he’s leaving government on a matter of principal because the party’s direction on energy and the environment changed under Carney’s leadership. Ottawa dropped the consumer carbon tax and endorsed building new pipelines out of Alberta. Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall was also expected to officially resign this week after announcing her plans in June. Guilbeault plans to exit politics, pursue climate fight in ‘different way’ Wagantall, a Saskatchewan MP since 2015, announced her resignation this summer after originally saying she planned to stick around until the next election. Nelson Pohl will run under the Conservative banner in her Yorkton-Melville riding in the next election. Guilbeault and Wagantall are just the latest MPs to exit the Commons in recent months. Two MPs stepped down this summer to run in Quebec’s provincial election. Bloc Québécois MP Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay resigned on June 19 to run for the Parti Québécois, while Alexandre Boulerice resigned his Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie seat on Aug. 25 to run for Québec solidaire. Ontario Conservative MP Larry Brock has announced plans to step down on Sept. 18 to return to the Crown prosecutor’s office in Brantford, Ont. Ontario Liberal Shaun Chen resigned as a member of Parliament on Aug. 15, attributing his exit to injuries he sustained in a car accident last fall that led to significant health issues. The prime minister must call a by-election after a seat becomes vacant, but he has a window of 11 to 180 days in which to do so. The election period must last from 36 to 50 days. The Liberals also swept three April by-elections earlier this year – two in the GTA and one in Quebec. The Toronto-area races were called to replace former cabinet ministers…