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Liberal MP Frank Valeriote clearly remembers the day, one year ago, when his family life was upended by his political life.

Valeriote was back in his Guelph, Ont. riding after another long stretch in Ottawa for his MP duties, glad to be home to spend time with his wife and two children.

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He was preparing to attend a constituency event that evening, when his wife of 12 years delivered news that hit harder than any headline in Ottawa: His time apart from the family had become too much and she wanted to separate.

“I wasn’t expecting it and was overwhelmed with it,” Valeriote, 60, recalls.

Valeriote, a two-term MP first elected in 2008, said his life away from home as a politician led to his separation, and it’s the reason he announced earlier this month he won’t run in the next federal election. He wants to spend more time with his son, now 10, and daughter, 11.

He is one of many current MPs – on both sides of the House of Commons – whose time away from home for months each year have taken an enormous toll on their personal lives, often ending in damaged relationships and broken marriages.