Bay of Quinte MP-elect Chris Malette bid farewell to Belleville City Council as his seat was declared vacant at council’s meeting on Monday.
The now former city councillor was elected the MP of Bay of Quinte for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2025 federal election.
“This is not how I had envisioned leaving you,” Malette told council in his delegation.
“I’d fully expected to have done so in a much less formal setting and over something cold and wet, but here we are.”
Fighting back tears, Malette thanked council for the time they shared together.
“If there is one thing I have learned sharing my time with all of you, it’s that none of us are in this for the glory, the prestige or the title,” Malette said.
“We do this for our neighbours, our friends and family, who call this glorious corner of Canada home, and for which we ought to be immensely grateful and proud that we call Belleville and the Bay of Quinte home.”
Malette had served as a city councillor for Ward 1 in Belleville since 2018.
Following Malette’s delegation, council approved a recommendation to declare the councillor’s seat vacant and for staff to provide a list of options to fill the seat at its May 26 meeting of council.
Previously, when Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp vacated his seat following a provincial by-election win, council had voted to go with the next-in-line candidate from Ward 1 in the 2022 municipal election.
That candidate ended up being current councillor Margaret Seu, who finished seventh in that election.
If council proceeds down a similar path to fill the seat left vacant by Malette, the next in line would be former councillor Kelly McCaw.
