OTTAWA—A former Bloc Québécois MP is joining the federal New Democrats.

Maria Mourani has been sitting as an Independent since she was expelled from the BQ caucus over her opposition to the Parti Quebecois government’s proposed charter of values.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair will welcome Mourani into his party Wednesday — although not as a member of Parliament.

The NDP has a policy of insisting that its caucus members must have been elected under the party’s banner.

So if Mourani wants to be an NDP MP, she will first have to run for the party in the next election, scheduled for 2015.

Mourani was first elected to the House of Commons in the Montreal riding of Ahuntsic in 2006.

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