Grard Deltell jumps into federal politics with Conservatives

Coalition Avenir Qubec MNA Grard Deltell announced on Tuesday that he is leaving provincial politics for a run at Parliament Hill.

"I will be a candidate with the Conservative party in the riding of Louis-St-Laurent. I was born here, inLoretteville. I grew up. I raised my family and I continue to live here.Loretteville is our home," Deltell said.

He made the announcement Tuesday morning in Loretteville, just outside of Quebec City.

The riding iscurrently held by the NDP.

Deltell said he's loved politics a long time. He showed journalists his Conservative party membership card that he signed in 1981while he was a student at CEGEPdeSte-Foy.

"I'm a [Conservative]blue, a real blue, an old blue," he said.

Deltell has been a Quebec MNAfor almost seven years. Elected for the first time in 2008, he was re-elected in 2012 and 2014.He also led the merger of the CAQ and the Action dmocratique du Qubec, and was the last leader of the ADQ.

Deltell's resignation will leave two seats vacant in the Quebec City region his seat in Chauveau and the Jean-Talon seat of former minister Yves Bolduc, who resigned in February.

Byelections will be announced soon.