Thursday, February 28, 2019 ~ VICTORIA
~ West Shore Voice News
Murray Rankin, QC, MP (Victoria) has announced today February 28 that he is not seeking re-election in the 2019 federal election. He is presently the NDP’s deputy house leader and justice critic.
“This was a very difficult decision to make,” he stated in a new release this afternoon.
He is actively participating in the Justice Committee in Ottawa these days, regarding the SNC-Lavalin scenario.
“I want to express gratitude to current NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and former leader, Tom Mulcair, for their passionate commitment to Canada,” said Rankin, adding that he wishes well to his caucus colleagues.
Rankin was recently appointed by the B.C. government as its representative in a reconciliation process with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. It’s an unpaid position that he says he’s doing out of a sense of commitment.
Rankin includes advising government on the legalization of medical assistance in dying and sitting on Parliament’s new intelligence and national security oversight committee as career highlights. He was opposed to the Enbridge pipeline.
The national NDP party is undergoing a process of turnover. A few NDP MPs who are not running again in 2019, include Alberta MP Linda Duncan, Ontario MPs Irene Mathyssen and David Christopherson, Quebec’s Helene Laverdiere, Romeo Saganash, Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet and Anne Minh-Thu Quach and BC’s Fin Donnelly.
Former MP Kennedy Stewart left that post last year and is now mayor of Vancouver. Sheila Malcolmson recently won as MLA for Nanaimo in the January 30 by-election; she had been MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith in 2015-2019.
Mulcair has become a political pundit on the TV news circuit in addition to his visiting professor status at the University of Montreal.
Rankin was deeply involved in the Victoria political scene. He has stood shoulder to shoulder with fellow island MPs including Randall Garrison (Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke) and Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford).
“This job makes you, requires you, to get to know your community like no other position. It’s just a remarkable community.” The 69-year-old Rankin has been a university professor and is an expert in environmental and public law. He says he has no plans to retire into golfing. “That’s not me.”
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