Manitoba MLA, cabinet minister Eileen Clarke will not seek re-election in 2023

A Manitoba MLA has announced her decision not to seek re-election in 2023.

Agassiz MLA Eileen Clarke, who has served as Manitoba's minister of municipal relations since January, announced her decision not to run for office in 2023 onher Facebook page Sunday.

"I will be retiring from my political life as of the 2023 provincial election," she wrote.

"In ways it feels like I've come full circle in just over sixpolitical years."

Clarkewas elected as the MLA for Agassiz in 2016 and re-elected in 2019.

Shepreviously served as minister of Indigenous and municipal relations, and became theminister of Indigenous and northern relations in 2017 arole she resigned from in 2021, after former Premier Brian Pallister made comments that unleashed a firestorm of criticism for downplaying the harms of colonialism in Canada.

Clarke says the stars of her political career were aligned, and wrote that her experiences as an MLA were "so much more than I could have ever imagined or wished for."

She also thanked Premier Heather Stefanson for reappointing her to the cabinet and Treasury Board, and says that she enjoys the journey everyday.

"It has been and continues to be an honour and privilege to experience a political career serving our sustainable and unique province."

"My life journey is not over but it will take a different path in 2023, I will patiently wait to see what's next for me."