Former independent Quebec MP Maria Mourani joins NDP

Maria Mourani has found a new home with the federal NDP. The former Bloc Quebecois MP has been sitting as an independent since last December. That's when she was kicked out of caucus for refusing to back the PQ's plan for a charter of Quebecois values.

At the time, Mourani told us she was rethinking not just her future as an MP, but as a Quebec sovereigntist.

This morning, Mourani announced she'll be joining the NDP caucus, but won't sit as an NDP MP unless she is elected under its banner.

"I'm a social democrat, I'm a progressive person so I share a lot of values and policies with the NDP," she tells As It Happens host Carol Off. "Also, I've met Tom Mulcair a few times and I like his leadership and we connected."