‘I really want to raise them’: Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy stepping away from politics to raise her sons

Being away from her children became too much to bear for Saint-Laurent Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy, who has decided to leave politics at the end of her current term to focus on being a mother.

Marwah Rizqy, a mother of two young boys — Gabriel and Abraham — announced she will not run again in the next provincial election.

“I want to make sure that at night I’ll be the one who’s going to say good night, kiss good night to my kids. That’s my number one responsibility,” Rizqy told reporters.

Rizqy felt she was spending too much time away from her sons and not seeing them grow up — especially in a context where her husband, Liberal MNA Gregory Kelley, is also elected to the National Assembly.

“So in our case, it’s just more complicated because two parents are not home,” Rizqy said. “But if you at least have one parent who can stay home with your kids, it’s doable. You’re just going to need a lot of organization. And yes, it comes with a great price. And are you willing to pay that price? Maybe I’m not.”

The Saint-Laurent MNA said Kelley offered to step down so she could remain in her role.

“Yeah that’s how much he loves me,” she said. “Yeah but it was my personal choice like I told him. For me, I really want to raise them. I want to be there every single night.”

“I respect her decision,” says Eleni Bakopanos, former Liberal MP and political analyst. “She made a different decision than I made. I was 39 years old when I first was elected and I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old, two daughters. It was very difficult,” she added

“I was all the way in Ottawa. She was she’s in Quebec City, going back and forth, not being there during the week,” Bakopanos said, adding that her husband, family and friends were able to step in and help out.

Bakopanos says she often tells women in politics that it’s possible to be both a parent and a public servant, but it is difficult to find a balance.

She also says that Quebec is at a “loss of a great politician and a great woman, but her family will benefit from her presence.”

Rizqy said she chose to make her announcement now so that the next leader of the Liberal Party, who will be chosen next summer, and the people of her riding have time to choose a new candidate.

“There’s no good timing (to step down) but it can only get worse if I wait. Because after that we’re going to have Christmas, we’re going to have the leadership race, and then the new leader. I don’t want the new leader to have to deal with this and then speculation of why I’m leaving. This is the reason I’m leaving.”

Quebec Premier François Legault said he respected Rizqy’s decision, calling it courageous.

“Politics is demanding in all areas of our lives,” the premier wrote on X. “Sometimes we have to make heartbreaking decisions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her commitment to Quebec. I wish her much happiness with her family.”

“It’s hard but you can do it,” said Quebec Deputy Premier, Geneviève Guilbault, at the National Assembly on Tuesday. “I have two children as a minister and I recognize that it’s difficult, it’s sacrifices,” she added.

Rizqy was elected to the National Assembly in 2018 and won a second term in 2022.

“I was elected on Oct. 1, 2018 … two-and-a-half mandates now. And yesterday, I was in the train and I told myself, I know the decision.”

“She’s clearly a gifted communicator and politician in a way that I think probably a lot of the members of the National Assembly would envy,” said Anne Lagacé Dowson, political commentator and former federal candidate for the NDP. “In fact, I bet you in the benches of the government, they’re probably breathing a sigh of relief that she’s stepping down because she was a formidable opponent in many ways.”

Rizqy says she hardly considers the decision to step away a failure.

“I feel like what I’ve done so far is pretty much amazing, coming from where I am from, my background,” she said. “Just being here in front of you for me is a great deal of success. I remember when I was here the day when I was sworn in, I was with my mother, and she whispered in my ear, ‘am I really your mother?’ My mom never had a chance to go to school. She was born and raised in Morocco in a very poor family. She came here, she was a cleaning lady, and I’d never been ashamed of my mother, ever. And I told her, ‘yes, of course you’re my mom, and I’m so proud of you because you went to the best school, the school of life, the first and the real one.’

“But isn’t it amazing that a daughter of an immigrant can be an elected official here in Quebec, having a PhD from the University of Florida, and raising all my concerns here at the National Assembly? For me, this is the biggest achievement because I know every other kid in Quebec who maybe feels left out, maybe feels like they don’t have enough, maybe they feel like they’re too poor to do something. Look at me, I’ve done it all because we’re here in Quebec, everything is possible. So that’s for me the biggest success so far.”