Former Tory interim leader, longtime Manitoba MP Candice Bergen stepping down

Former Conservative interim leader and longtime Manitoba member of Parliament Candice Bergen announced Wednesday she is stepping down.

Bergen said in a video posted to Twitter that she submitted a letter of resignation as the representative for Portage-Lisgar after meeting with her party’s caucus.

“I won’t be going back into the House of Commons. I’m not really one for long goodbyes,” she said in the video.

After 14 years as an MP I’m looking forward to the next chapter of life. Thank you Portage-Lisgar and Canada for the honour pic.twitter.com/2L11QFCQ2F

— Candice Bergen Harris (@CandiceBergen_) February 1, 2023

She also thanked her family and colleagues in Ottawa, “regardless of your political stripe.”

Bergen was first elected to the rural – and reliably Conservative – Manitoba riding in 2008. She later served as the party’s deputy leader under former leader Erin O’Toole.

Her resignation comes a day before the one-year anniversary of when O’Toole was ousted by caucus and Bergen put her name forward to serve as the party’s interim leader.

Her tenure in that role ended last September when Pierre Poilievre became leader. Bergen announced a few days before his victory that she would not run in the next federal election.

Prospective successors include Manitoba finance minister Cameron Friesen, who said last week that he would be leaving cabinet to seek the nomination for Bergen’s seat.

His decision opens up a provincial seat in the area at a time when Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson is heading into an October election, with her Progressive Conservative government trailing the provincial New Democrats.

Bergen did not divulge her plans for the future in Wednesday’s departure video, saying only that “the best is yet to come.”

But she said she was leaving at a time when she feels “hopeful and re-energized” about the state of the party – “hopeful for our strong, united Conservative party and our caucus under the courageous and principled leadership of my friend Pierre Poilievre.”

Many federal MPs credit Bergen with helping unite the party’s caucus, which found itself divided under O’Toole’s leadership and after the Conservatives lost the 2021 election to the Liberals.

“She listened to caucus, respected caucus and really united caucus around our fundamental principles that make up who we are as Conservatives and is defined under our party declaration,” said James Bezan, another longtime Manitoba MP and friend of Bergen’s.

“She made sure that we kept that as our North Star.”

One of the ways Bergen quieted the divide in caucus was by withdrawing O’Toole’s short-lived policy to embrace a consumer carbon price.

“We’re stronger and united because of Candice Bergen,” Bezan said.