Westlock—St. Paul MP Brian Storseth will not represent the Westlock area following the next federal election.
As a result of the changes to the electoral ridings that will come into effect for the 2015 election, Storseth plans to run in the new Lakeland riding, which includes his current home of St. Paul.
“I have immensely enjoyed representing the Westlock area for the last several years, but at the end of the day I live in St. Paul and so the decision my wife and I decided to make was to run for the riding that St. Paul was encompassed in,” he said.
While there is no guarantee Storseth will be the Conservative party’s candidate in Lakeland in 2015, he said he is confident his work representing Westlock—St. Paul gives him a good shot at earning the party’s nomination.
“Quite frankly, as a sitting MP, if you’re doing your job, you’re working hard and you’re coming home every weekend, there’s no reason you shouldn’t continue on.”
Storseth added he has heard from current Vegreville—Wainwright MP Leon Benoit that he won’t run against another sitting MP, leaving the seat open for a new candidate.
When the new ridings come into effect, much of the northern portion of the current Vegreville—Wainwright riding will become part of the new Lakeland constituency. Most of the southern part will end up in the new Battle River riding.
Storseth has represented the Westlock area since he was first elected in 2006, and will have been the local MP for nearly 10 years when the 2015 election rolls around.
Although he has already decided where he plans to run in two years’ time, he said he has no intention of abdicating his responsibilities to the Westlock area in the meantime.
“I’m going to make sure we continue to represent the Westlock portion of this riding until 2015,” Storseth said. “I’ve always said that. That’s what I was elected in 2011 to represent.”
Included in that promise to continue representing the area is a vow to keep his satellite office on Main Street open until the 2015 election.
In his nearly eight years as MP, Storseth said there are many things he has experienced that make him proud to have represented the area, one of which is how he was able to successfully bring federal infrastructure dollars to the community.
He said it was “first time in decades” Westlock had received infrastructure money, which went towards myriad projects that needed it.
Storseth also said he was proud to have strongly represented the principles and values that people in Westlock espouse, including reducing the GST to five per cent, retooling the Canadian Wheat Board and repealing the long gun registry.
“These were three key planks in our first campaign and for 10 years before that,” he said.
Yet for all that work, there is one thing Storseth said he prides himself on the most.
“The proudest thing I am about in the Westlock area is I was actually the founder of the Westlock Women’s Association, which has turned into the Hope Resource Centre,” he said. “That’s something I really do believe is a legacy that will far outlive my political career.”
