Manitoba maverick Conservative MP Inky Mark will leave Parliament next month to try to reclaim his old job as mayor of Dauphin.The 62-year-old announced last year he would not run again in the Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette riding he has held since 1997 through five elections but planned to serve his MP term until the next election is called.Last week, he announced he would step down Sept. 15 so he can file papers to run for the mayor’s job, which he held from 1994 until his election to Parliament in 1997.In Ottawa, Mark was known for bucking party discipline when he felt the party line went against the wishes of his constituents. The most prominent example was his decision to vote with the opposition to oppose the Conservative government’s wish to abolish the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly.He said farmers in his riding support the CWB.Despite that rare act of backbench defiance of party discipline, prime minister Stephen Harper last week praised Mark for his career in Parliament.”Since he was first elected in 1997, Inky Mark has been a tireless and popular representative for his constituents,” he said in an Aug. 17 statement. “He also represented them at the local level as a city councillor and as mayor.”During the 2008 election, Mark said in an interview that the party wanted to take the nomination away from him but his supporters rose up to support their local MP.
Inky Mark to leave Parliament
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