‘It’s time to go home’ – Health Minister, Ajax MP not running in next federal election

Health Minister and Ajax MP Mark Holland is saying goodbye to federal politics and has announced he will not run in the coming federal election.

“It’s time to go home.”

Holland, 50, was first elected as municipal and regional councillor in Pickering in 1997 a month after his 23rd birthday and the voters of Ajax-Pickering sent him to Ottawa in 2004 with a margin of more than 7,000 votes.

A staunch advocate for progressive issues such as marriage equality rights, Holland played a key role in helping to reform Canada’s animal cruelty laws and supported the prison farm system, which provided skills training for inmates and food for local food banks.

Holland, who quickly gained a reputation in Ottawa as a strong public speaker – he was dubbed one of a new breed of ‘Rat Pack’ on Parliament Hill – was re-elected twice more before his defeat in 2011 at the hands of Conservative Chris Alexander.

He spent his time away from public office as the Executive Director of the former Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s Ontario Mission, as well as National Director of Children and Youth before he returning to Ottawa as the MP for the new riding of Ajax in 2015, winning his seat by a margin of more than 12,000 votes.

Holland would win handily in the 2019 and 2021 elections – the last campaign by 15,000 votes – and served in parliamentary secretary roles until 2018 when he was named Chief Government Whip, holding the position until 2021.

In 2023 he was named Canada’s Health Minister.

Holland made the 2024 Maclean’s Magazine Power List, a compilation of the top 100 movers and shakers in Canada in ten different categories, with a #2 ranking in the health care section for introducing the Pharmacare Act and “adding life-changing drugs to Canada’s coverage list.”

The magazine had other names for him when he was the party’s Whip, referring to Holland as “Part Attack Dog, Part King-Maker” and even went as far as to call him a favourite on the Hill for his “oratory skills and impressive head of hair.”

Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney and his new cabinet will be sworn in Friday and it is widely expected his cabinet will be shrunk from the current 37.

The swearing-in ceremony is set for 11 a.m. at Rideau Hall.