Brandon-Souris MP Merv Tweed, chair of the House of Commons agriculture committee, is resigning to become Canadian president of Omnitrax that owns the Hudson Bay Railway.
The Manitoba MP and former Brandon auto dealership owner also is a former chair of the Commons transport committee.
Tweed, 58, was elected four times since 2004.
He resigns from Parliament Aug. 31 to take up his new private sector post.
Before his 2004 federal election, he served for nine years as a provincial MLA and before that in municipal government.
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It means that when Parliament resumes in the autumn, likely in a new session, the agriculture committee will be assigned a new chair.
During his time as agriculture committee chair, Tweed’s congenial style helped reduce the rancor on a committee that had become an often-bitter and partisan forum.
He led committee studies of Canadian food sector value-chain relationships
His appointment as Canadian president of Omnitrax, that has announced plans to expand the railway to Churchill from mainly a carrier of agricultural products to a transporter of crude oil to the port as well, drew quick reaction from the lobby group Democracy Watch.
It complained that Tweed’s ability to parley a period as transportation committee chair being lobbied by Omnitrax to its Canadian president is unseemly.
Under parliamentary rules, he will be unable to lobby the federal government for several years.
In a statement on his MP website, Tweed said he did not take the decision to leave federal politics lightly but saw an opportunity with the railway that has served the northern Manitoba port.
“This is an enterprising organization that has served northern Canada well since 1997,” Tweed said. “Through this role I will endeavour to ensure the next stage of growth so we can as a team extend and grow the services we provide.”
