In a video she posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Candice Bergen explains that she announced the news to her fellow Conservative MPs during their weekly caucus on Wednesday morning.
58-year-old Candice Bergen has represented this rural, conservative Manitoba since 2008, when the Conservatives began their second term as leader of a minority government.
Many thanks to all my colleagues on both sides of the house. Regardless of your political affiliation, I am very proud of the work we do here and I will miss this place, she says in the video.
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I choose not to go now because I am tired and lack energy. In fact, it’s the opposite: I’m hopeful and energized. [Je suis] optimistic for a strong and united Conservative Party and for our group under the courageous and principled leadership of my friend Pierre Poilievre, she adds.
The announcement comes almost a year to the day after she accepted the post of interim chair of the CPC after Erin O’Toole was ousted from the party leadership.
candidates for his successor
Last September, she announced that she would no longer stand in the next federal election.
In her Wednesday post, she didn’t say what her plans are for her future, only saying that the best is yet to come.
Many MPs credit Candice Bergen with helping unite the party faction when it was divided under Erin O’Toole.
She listened to the caucus, respected the caucus, and really connected the caucus to our core principles that make us who we are as conservatives,” said Manitoba Assemblyman James Bezan.
A by-election must now be organized in Manitoba soon. Several people have already expressed interest in replacing her, including Manitoba Treasury Secretary Cameron Friesen, who announced last week that he was resigning his seat on the Legislature to run.
I thank her for her years of service, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a crowd on Wednesday.
In addition to riding Portage-Lisgar, another statewide by-election will be held this year in Manitoba riding Winnipeg South Center after Jim Carr passed away last year.