The recent announcement by Robert Kitchen that he would not seek another term as Souris-Moose Mountain's MP likely came as a surprise to many, but maybe it shouldn't have.
Kitchen has held the role since 2015, and said last fall that he would seek another term as MP.
You can forgive many people for asking what gives, but when you take a step back and look at the full picture, you understand why Kitchen is retiring from politics.
For starters, he's not a young man. If the next election were to happen next fall as scheduled, and if the elected government serves a full four-year term, then Kitchen would be our MP for another five years. And as Kitchen stated in an interview, he has always emphasized the need to finish what you start – an admirable attitude we wish more people had these days. He wouldn't want to retire midway through the term.
It would be another five years of travelling from Estevan to Ottawa on a weekly basis for most of the year. That's another five years of long days with little time off. Say what you will about our elected officials in Ottawa, but when you're an MP, you won't have many weeks in which you work 40 hours or less, and you are never really able to take a break from the work, at least not in this day and age.
Souris-Moose Mountain isn't an easy riding to represent, either. It's a several-hour drive from the northeast corner in the Moosomin-Rocanville area to the southwest area around Coronach.
And if Kitchen were to successfully run again, and if the following election didn't happen until 2029, it would mean another five years away from his family. At a time when he friends would be enjoying the fruits from their years of hard work, Kitchen would be staring those long days in Ottawa in the face, and doing it while away from his wife, children and grandchildren.
Kitchen has been an effective advocate for our constituency since he was first elected in 2015. Often his thoughts have fallen on deaf ears in Ottawa, the Tories have been in opposition to a Liberal government with harmful policies towards the mining and the oil and gas sectors. And frankly, most in the Liberal government don't know the first thing about rural life and agriculture, unless they found it on the internet.
It's still important for an MP to bring forward the views and the needs of the constituency, even if the government doesn't want to hear them.
You have to think Kitchen was excited about the prospect of being in government rather than opposition, thanks to the strong possibility of the Tories knocking off the Liberals in the next election, but even the chance to be in government wasn't enough to get him to stick around.
Kitchen has said he'll remain the MP until the end of this term, but the Tories aren't wasting time in finding their candidate for Souris-Moose Mountain for the next federal election. A couple of people – Moosomin MLA Steven Bonk and Torquay Mayor Mike Strachan – have announced their intention of replacing Kitchen.
Bonk's announcement drew more attention in the provincial media because he's a sitting MLA, but those in the southeast can also vouch for Strachan's effectiveness as a mayor and a politician.
Anyone who enters the race will need to be prepared to fight hard for the nomination. After all, this riding has traditionally voted for right-wing candidates. Since the modern riding of Souris-Moose Mountain was created in 1988, just one non-conservative candidate, the late Bernie Collins with the Liberals in 1993, has won this riding. And Collins' victory was also the closest in the riding's history at about 500 votes.
When Kitchen first became an MP, his toughest fight was for the nomination in 2014, and not the actual election.
It's why this nomination will be such an interesting process. And the victor would not only be the favourite to win this riding in the next election, but could be part of the government, creating opportunities for this riding that don't exist with the current federal Liberals.
