”It came right out of the blue.”

One unidentified PC party member’s response to the news that provincial Children, Community and Social Services Minister Merrilee Fullerton has resigned, effective immediately.

And not only her cabinet post either but also as MPP for Kanata-Carleton; the riding the family physician won for the Conservatives in 2018.

Her resignation letter to the premier did not provide a reason for her departure, but some party members say she didn’t ”seem her usual self” of late.

Fullerton started out in cabinet as minister of training, colleges and universities before taking charge of long-term care in 2019.

She was on the hot seat the following year when COVID-19 hit, claiming  thousands of lives.

Five nursing homes were hit so hard that the Ford government called in the army to help.