Former Tory Interim Leader, Longtime Manitoba MP Candice Bergen Stepping Down

Former Tory Interim Leader, Longtime Manitoba MP Candice Bergen Stepping Down
Conservative MP Candice Bergen speaks at the Conservative Party of Canada leadership vote, in Ottawa, Sept. 10, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)
The Canadian Press
2/1/2023
Updated:
2/1/2023
0:00
Former Conservative interim leader and longtime Manitoba member of Parliament Candice Bergen announced Wednesday she is stepping down.

Bergen said in a video posted to Twitter that she submitted a letter of resignation as the representative for Portage-Lisgar after meeting with her party’s caucus.

“I won’t be going back into the House of Commons, I’m not really one for long goodbyes,” she said in the video.

She also thanked her family and colleagues in Ottawa, “regardless of your political stripe.”

The MP said last September, after serving as interim party leader following Erin O'Toole’s ouster, that she was not planning to run in another federal election.

Prospective successors including Manitoba finance minister Cameron Friesen are already lining up to seek the party’s nomination to replace Bergen.

In the video, Bergen said she was leaving at a time when she feels “hopeful and re-energized” about the state of the party.

“Hopeful for our strong, united Conservative party and our caucus under the courageous and principled leadership of my friend Pierre Poilievre.”

She was first elected to represent her reliably Conservative Manitoba riding in 2008.

Many federal MPs credit Bergen with helping unite the party’s caucus, which found itself divided under O'Toole’s leadership and after the Conservatives lost the 2021 election to the Liberals.