Former Conservative interim leader and long-time Manitoba member of Parliament, Candice Bergen, announced her resignation on Wednesday.
Bergen said in a video posted to Twitter that he submitted a letter of resignation as Portage-Lisgar’s representative following the party’s weekly caucus meeting.
“I won’t be back in the House of Commons. I’m really not one to say goodbye for a long time,” she said in the video.
He also thanked his family and colleagues in Ottawa, “regardless of their political line.”
Bergen was first elected to the rural, and reliably conservative, Manitoba riding in 2008. She later served as deputy party leader under former leader Erin O’Toole.
His resignation comes a day before the first anniversary of when O’Toole was ousted by the caucus and Bergen put his name forward to serve as the party’s interim leader.
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His tenure in that role ended last September when Pierre Poilievre became leader. Bergen announced a few days before his victory that he would not run in the upcoming federal elections.
Possible successors include Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen, who said last week he would leave the cabinet to seek the nomination for Bergen’s job.
His decision opens up a provincial seat in the area at a time when Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson heads to an October election, with her Progressive Conservative government trailing the provincial New Democrats.
Former acting Tory leader, longtime Manitoba MP @CandiceBergenMP resigns. #CDNPoli #CPC
Bergen did not divulge his plans for the future in Wednesday’s outing video, saying only that he believes “the best is yet to come.”
But she said she was leaving at a time when she feels “hopeful and reinvigorated” about the state of the party, “hopeful for our strong and united Conservative Party and our caucus under the courageous and principled leadership of my friend Pierre Poilievre.”
Many federal lawmakers credit Bergen with helping unite the party caucus, which was split under O’Toole’s leadership and after the Conservatives lost the 2021 election to the Liberals.
“She listened to the caucus, respected the caucus and really rallied the caucus around our core principles that make up who we are as Conservatives and are defined in our policy statement,” said James Bezan, another longtime Manitoba parliamentarian and friend. from Bergen.
“She made sure we kept that as our lodestar.”
One way Bergen calmed the split in the caucus was by withdrawing O’Toole’s short-lived policy of adopting a consumer carbon price.
“We are stronger and more united because of Candice Bergen,” Bezan said.
During his time as interim leader, Bergen also defended the Tories for supporting protesters who came to Ottawa as part of last winter’s “Freedom Convoy,” which clogged the streets around Parliament Hill for weeks.
Bergen accused Trudeau of dividing the country by pushing for COVID-19 vaccine mandates and said in one of his first comments as interim leader that he needed to extend an “olive branch” to protesters.
However, as the protest against the COVID-19 measures and the federal government progressed, he gave a speech in the House in which he asked those who refused to give in to move their vehicles.
During his time as interim leader, Bergen also told a room of party faithful gathered for a conference in Ottawa last May that the Conservatives will not be able to bring disgruntled liberal voters into the fold by being a “liberal lite” version of Trudeau’s party. .
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 1, 2023.