Citing several competing demands on his time and insufficient support to continue, Romeo Saganash announced today that he is withdrawing from the race to lead the New Democratic Party.

“My mother, sisters and brothers and my children all need more attention than I have been able to provide”, Saganash said in his announcement. “I am unable to devote enough time to them, my constituents or my party and run the kind of campaign that I would like to run”, he added.

The M.P. for Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik-Eeyou noted that he had received “a warm reception and support from party members, but it is impossible to run a winning campaign as the favourite second choice. People send you good wishes, but they don’t send their money”, he said.

The first Indigenous person to run for leader of a major political party, Saganash noted that there had been tremendous reaction among Aboriginal people, but the effort of reaching communities across Canada required an infrastructure that was impossible to build in a single campaign. “There remains much work to do to bring this community to the party, but a strong foundation of hope and engagement now exists. I am sure this will continue”, he said.

“I will endorse whichever candidate can best move the vision forward that I have for our party”, Saganash said. “Building on the support we have gained in Quebec, reaching out to rural and suburban voters, and engaging the forty percent of Canadians who did not vote in the last election will all be important steps for the next leader”.

“My run for leadership may be over, but my run against Harper’s politics is just starting”

Saganash concluded by offering his deepest thanks to the many volunteers who worked on his campaign, to the NDP members and MPs who backed his candidacy, and to the people who joined the NDP to support him and share his vision of a better Canada.