Coun. Chris Malette has received the nod from the Liberals for the April 28 federal election. /Bay of Quinte Federal Liberal Association Facebook photo
Long-time former journalist and two-term Belleville Coun. Chris Malette has thrown his hat into the ring as the Liberal candidate for the Bay of Quinte in the upcoming April 28 federal election.
The Bay of Quinte Federal Liberal Association confirmed Malette as their candidate on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
“Happy to officially announce that Chris Malette is our Bay of Quinte federal candidate,” announced the association, on social media Thursday. “He’s already hard at work in our campaign office at 66 Dundas. St. E., Belleville.”
Earlier this week, the association hinted an announcement was anticipated soon. Malette earned the nod following several candidate nominations.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from people wanting to represent us in this election,” said Ken Manderville, chair of the Bay of the Quinte Federal Liberal Riding Association earlier this week.
At that time, Manderville stated four applications had been submitted to the Liberal Party of Canada from Bay of Quinte residents over the course of the last several weeks. Nominees were still being vetted by party officials at the time of that announcement.
Malette is a long-time familiar face in the region.
He became a Ward 1 councillor in Belleville in 2018 and previously served for decades in the journalism industry. Over the years, he held managing editor, city editor, reporter and photographer titles – often with an eye for politics.
In addition to his long-standing work at the Belleville Intelligencer, Malette also managed a group of Metroland Media community newspapers stretching across Quinte – and including the Brighton Independent – up until 2017.
Through his city council work, he’s held a number of other posts in the community related to the environment and social services, to name a few.
MBC has reached out to Malette for comment and is waiting for a response.
Earlier this week, Manderville stated: “The team is ready to go, and we can’t wait to get this campaign started.”
Manderville also said the campaign was already at that time receiving dozens of calls and emails daily from people offering support.
“People are reaching out to us because they know this election is crucial to the future of Canada,” said Manderville.
As previously reported, Liberal Leader Mary Carney confirmed the election was coming over the weekend after meeting with Gov.-Gen. Mary Simon and requesting the dissolution of Parliament.
Residents will elect their next MP on April 28. Among the issues front-and-centre in the race are United States relations amid ongoing tariff threats.
While nominations for candidates close April 7 – and a complete list of confirmed candidates isn’t anticipated until April 9 – there are currently a few more candidates confirmed in the riding.
According to Elections Canada, confirmed candidates include Conservative Party of Canada incumbent Ryan Williams, and Green Party of Canada candidate Erica Charlton.
Williams has also been busy in recent days opening campaign offices in Picton at 333 Main St., and in Trenton, at 469 Dundas St. W.
MBC will have more to come on the election.
(Written by: Sarah Hyatt)
