OTTAWA-
As the Conservative Party prepares to welcome a new leader this week, its interim leader says she will not run in the next federal election.
Candice Bergen took over the role of interim Leader of the Opposition after Erin O’Toole was ousted by the Conservative caucus in February following a disappointing election defeat last September.
Bergen, 57, was first elected in 2008 for the riding of Portage-Lisgar in Manitoba and was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Minister of State for Social Development under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
She was named Conservative House Leader in 2016 and became deputy party leader in 2020 under O’Toole.
Bergen says she will remain an MP for the immediate future and looks forward to new opportunities.
She says she will back whoever is chosen as the party’s new leader and, in a statement, said she was “incredibly optimistic” about the future of the Conservative movement.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on September 6, 2022.