Canadian FM reported to resign Tuesday

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird will announce his resignation on Tuesday, according to the CBC.

Baird, who has held several senior portfolios in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet, has told members of his staff that he will not run in federal elections and will be resigning, said the broadcaster.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast will take over, it added.

Baird's departure, along with the resignation of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty a month before his death last year, means two of Harper's most powerful ministers will have left the prime minister's inner circle in less than a year.

In a statement late Monday, spokesman Rick Roth said Baird would make an announcement in the House of Commons on Tuesday at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT), without elaborating on the content of the announcement.

As foreign minister, Baird has overseen a busy agenda, handling Canada's diplomatic response to the war in Libya, the crisis in Ukraine, the Palestinian push for statehood, the coalition mission in Iraq, and most recently, the case of jailed Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy.

Baird, 45, was nominated in March 2014 as a Conservative candidate for the next federal elections, which must be held by Oct. 19 at the latest.

Baird has been in politics most of his adult life. He was first elected as a member of parliament in 2006 after a decade in provincial politics in Ontario, where he served in former Premier Mike Harris' cabinet. Endi