Today Peter MacKay announced that he will not be running in the next federal elections.
The former Conservative MP who recently ran for the party’s leadership post issued the following statement:
“After much reflection and discussions with my family, I have made the difficult decision not to run in the next federal election.
“After spending almost 9 months as a leadership candidate in the middle of this pandemic, much of it away from my family and full time job, my focus must be to return to both.
“There are many people for whom I owe my gratitude and my eternal thanks. First, and always, I am grateful to my wife Nazanin and our children, and entire extended family, for their love and support, and their patience and understanding of the demands of political life.
“I thank the people of Central Nova who elected me to go to Ottawa to represent them six times over the 18 years I spent as their MP and who now have warmly welcomed me back home to Nova Scotia. I also extend profound appreciation to the EDA and individuals too numerous to mention who were with me on this recent democratic journey of pursuing the leadership of our Party.
“Finally, I am forever grateful to the countless Canadians across the country who gave their time, energy, and finances to support both me and the Conservative Party during the recent extended Leadership Campaign.
“Earlier today I spoke with Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole to inform him of my decision not to run in the next federal election.
“I expressed my ongoing commitment to our party and to doing everything I can to ensure that the next election results in a Conservative victory, with Prime Minister Erin O’Toole at the helm. I look forward to working with all Conservatives as I have for the last 40 years to defeat this Liberal government.”
