Liberal MP Shaun Chen to Resign Saturday, Citing Health Issues From Car Accident
Liberal MP Shaun Chen plans to resign his seat in Scarborough North at the end of this week, citing significant health issues stemming from a car accident in late 2025.
Chen said in a statement issued on social media that he suffered a serious motor vehicle accident in late fall 2025 while commuting to Ottawa, which caused significant health issues that have prevented him from travelling to the capital as often as the job requires. He said he will resign on Saturday. (The Globe and Mail; CP24)
Prime Minister Mark Carney thanked Chen for his advocacy for young people and his work to combat racism.
Chen was first elected in 2015, after serving as chair of the Toronto District School Board. He has held the Scarborough North seat since then, through successive federal elections that reshaped the Liberal caucus around him.
His resignation adds to a growing list of MPs vacating their seats over the summer, thinning the ranks of the House of Commons during a period when several parties are already managing open caucuses and pending by-elections. For the Liberals specifically, the departure of an incumbent who has held a Greater Toronto Area seat since 2015 removes a figure with deep roots in both the education sector and the party's organizational base in the 416 region.
The mechanics of what follows are straightforward under the Canada Elections Act. Once Chen's resignation takes effect, the Speaker will inform the Chief Electoral Officer, and the writ for a by-election in Scarborough North must be issued within 180 days, though in practice the timing is at the discretion of the governing party. Scarborough North has been a Liberal seat since its creation for the 2015 election, but like many GTA ridings it has seen margins narrow and shift in line with provincial and federal trends across the Toronto suburbs. How each party approaches the eventual by-election will depend on the broader political calendar when the writ drops.
For the Liberal caucus, Chen's departure removes another experienced GTA voice at a time when the Carney government is still in its early orientation. His policy interests, particularly in anti-racism work and youth advocacy, are areas the Prime Minister's office explicitly acknowledged in its response to the resignation, suggesting those files will need new caucus champions.
The personal circumstances are unusual. Injuries from a commuting accident that persist for months and ultimately make parliamentary service untenable are not a common cause of mid-term resignations. MPs have stepped down for health reasons before, but the specific detail that Chen's accident occurred while travelling to Ottawa places the matter squarely in the context of the demands placed on parliamentarians, particularly those representing ridings several hundred kilometres from the Hill. The weekly commute between Toronto and Ottawa is a routine feature of life for GTA-area MPs, and an injury that compromises that travel pattern has a direct operational effect on constituency representation and caucus participation.
Chen's statement framed the decision as one forced by circumstance rather than chosen on political grounds. The combination of a serious accident, prolonged health consequences, and the inability to meet the travel demands of the role presents a straightforward case for a sitting MP to step aside, even at the cost of a safe seat mid-parliament.
What remains is the procedural sequence: the resignation Saturday, the Speaker's notification, and the eventual by-election. All of that unfolds against the backdrop of a summer that has already seen a steady stream of departures from the House of Commons, leaving multiple ridings across the country awaiting contests that will test party organizations at the local level.
