Parti Qubcois MNA Bernard Drainville to quit politics

Parti Qubcois MNA and former leadership candidateBernard Drainville is stepping down.

Drainville, 53, first made waves in politics when he was elected in the Marie-Victorin riding in 2007 after quitting hisjob as a journalist at CBC's French-language network,Radio-Canada.

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He is expected to announce Tuesdaythat he will replace the one-time deputy premier and cabinet minister, formerLiberal MNA Nathalie Normandeau,as a talk-show host onQuebec City'sFM93 radio station, according to La Presse Canadienne.

Normandeau was let go by the station in March after she was arrested by the province's anti-corruption unit, UPAC.

'It's a shock'

Jean-Franois Lise, one of Drainville's colleagues and a PQ leadership race candidate, tweeted his gratitude toDrainville for hiscontributions to the party and to Quebec's political landscape.

In aFacebookpost,Lisewrote that,while the two did not always agree,he admiredDrainville.

"It's crazyall that we owe to you, Bernard," Lise wrote."It's a shock, Bernard. Areal shock."

Members of the PQ have mostly stayed tight-lippedbutFranoisLegault, the leader ofCoalition Avenir Qubec, wished Drainvillegood luck.

"Thanks Bernard Drainvillefor your reform to political financing and your necessary debate on the Charter of Values," tweeted Legault.

Drainville is expected to make his announcement Tuesday morning.

Failed secular charter

Drainville is best known for the failed and highly controversialsecular charter legislation he tabledin 2013 when the PQ was in power.

The original charter of Quebec values, which Drainvillechampioned as a cabinet minister, would have prohibited civil servants in public institutions from wearing ostentatious religious symbols.

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Following premier Pauline Marois'sresignation, Drainvillelaunched his own leadership bid,six monthsafter the PQ lost theprovincialelection in April 2014.

During the leadership race, he unveiled a plan to launch a renewed bid for a secular charter, butthat never came to fruition. In April 2015,he pulled out of the race to support front-runnerPierre Karl Pladeau.

When Pladeau quit politics in May,Drainville was touted as a potential candidate to replace him,but he decided not to run.