Felix Pinel won’t run for the leadership of the Bloc Quebecois

MONTREAL – Quebec politician Felix Pinel won’t be running for the leadership of the Bloc Quebecois.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Pinel explains that he has not collected the required 1,000 signatures from party members on his nomination papers, including 15 from 25 different constituencies.

He says the party is preventing a real race by cutting 30 days out of the time to sign nomination papers by new party members.

But Pinel ends his message by saying he is in the Bloc Quebecois to stay and plans to support Martine Ouellet, the only declared leadership candidate so far. The Bloc will choose a new leader April 22.

Pinel ran for the BQ in the 2015 federal election in the Riviere-des-Mille-Iles riding north of Montreal, but lost to Liberal Linda Lapointe.

Ouellet officially entered the race to lead the BQ on Sunday.

She is a twice-failed PQ leadership candidate who now sits in Quebec’s legislature as an independent.