Westlock-St. Paul MP Brian Storseth has put his name in the mix for the provincial Progressive Conservative nomination for Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills.
Storseth declined an interview with the Westlock News about his decision to put his name forward, but his communications officer Amee Pundick said it’s business as usual for Storseth from a federal perspective.
“He’s still going to Ottawa, he’s still meeting with his constituents on federal issues and he’s still operating as a Member of Parliament,” she said.
She noted one of the concerns about speaking with the News about his provincial ambitions is that his office and his office staff expenses are funded by federal taxpayers, so he’s reluctant to comment on any provincial issues.
“We just have to be very careful about the federal/provincial line,” Pundick said, adding if Storseth wins the provincial nomination he’ll be willing to do an interview about what the decision will mean for Westlock-St. Paul residents.
Storseth’s plans have been hard to pin down over the past year. He announced in December 2013 he would seek re-election in the new Lakeland riding, as Westlock-St. Paul will be split between two new ridings in the next election due to a boundary redistribution.
He then announced in August 2014 he would not be seeking re-election in order to be able to spend more time with his young family.
The news he will seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in the Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills also comes as a surprise. The nominations for the riding closed on Jan. 26, but the provincial PC association threw out the local nominating committee for closing the process too early after a local complaint.
Storseth was in Lac La Biche Feb. 3 campaigning on his provincial ambitions at a meeting with about 15 guests including some Lac La Biche county councillors.
“I put my name forward because I believe very strongly I can be a positive influence in our communities,” he said, adding his desire to be closer to his young twins influenced his decision to leave the federal arena for the provincial one.
He said he didn’t put his name forward during the first round of nominations because he was concerned about the openness of the nomination process and said it was something his family needed time to consider.
Storseth said he wasn’t the one who complained to the provincial PCs about the nomination process, and wasn’t aware of any of his supporters having complained either.
While Storseth has worked with premier Jim Prentice in the past as part of Stephen Harper’s federal government, he said he doesn’t want or expect any preferential treatment or an endorsement.
He did cited support for Prentice as a reason for wanting to return to the PCs — he publicly supported the Wildrose Party and current Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills MLA Shayne Saskiw during the past provincial election — saying he didn’t support former premier Alison Redford.
The nomination vote is scheduled to take place March 14, and Storseth has said he isn’t sure whether or not he will resign from Parliament.
“If we are in the middle of the budget process and there’s not time for a by-election, we’re going to have to take everything into account,” he said. “But that’s down the road and I don’t want to be theoretical.”
• With files from Laura Rodgers, Lac La Biche Post.
