Westlock-St. Paul MP Brian Storseth will not be running for elected office in the 2015 federal election.
“My wife and I, after much contemplation, have decided that I’m not going to run in the next federal election in 2015,” he said.
Storseth made the announcement on Aug. 21. It comes eight months after he announced he would contest the election in the new riding of Lakeland — which contains the Town of St. Paul, where he currently lives — and would no longer represent the Westlock area.
His decision comes down to a desire to be closer to home after he and his wife Amel had twins, a boy and a girl, last October.
As an MP, he’s committed to being away in Ottawa for about seven or eight months out of the year.
“That’s a long distance spent from my family and we just felt simply it would be in the best interests of my family if I pursued some opportunities a lot closer to home,” he said.
However, with more than a year remaining until the election and the end of his federal political career, Storseth said he’s not going to simply abandon his constituents and coast into the sunset.
“I promise to fulfill my commitment and perform my term as a member of Parliament for Westlock-St. Paul and I intend to do that for the next year,” he said.
During his final 13 months as an MP, Storseth said plans to conduct “business as usual” throughout the riding.
Already he’s been working with Town of Westlock mayor Ralph Leriger and Westlock County reeve Bud Massey to determine the municipalities’ priorities in order to secure funding through the Building Canada Fund.
On the Temporary Foreign Worker Program front, he continues to be critical of the Tories’ stance and changes to the program, having spoken out in opposition to the changes at a recent meeting in Bonnyville.
At that meeting, Storseth acknowledged his opposition to the program’s changes had him treading a fine line.
“This is only the second time I’ve ever disagreed with and criticized a government decision, and I’m really putting my career on the line here by taking this stance,” he said.
However, he stated his stance on the TFWP was “not at all” a factor in his decision to leave federal politics.
By the time the 2015 election rolls around, Storseth will have been an MP for nearly 10 years.
“It’s been an amazing experience for me,” he said of his time as an MP.
He said he’s had the chance to work with some of the best and brightest politicians in Canada, as well as meet new people all over the riding and the country, and add to the list of people he considers his family.
“I’ll miss the people; that’s the best part of the job,” he said of the negatives of leaving.
Storseth first entered politics when he was elected to his hometown town council in Barrhead in 2001 at the age of 23, becoming that town’s youngest councillor ever.
In 2006, he made he jump to federal politics when he was elected in as the new MP for Westlock—St. Paul, replacing retiring MP, and former Reform Party and Canadian Alliance member David Chatters.
During his time as an MP, Storseth served on several parliamentary committees, including the Agriculture and Agri-Food and Environment and Sustainable Development; Public Accounts; Veterans Affairs; and Bill C-18 committees.
•With files from Mike Pickford.
