Former KAP president to seek PC nomination

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The former president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers, is leaping into provincial politics.Ian Wishart announced Oct. 29 that he will seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for the constituency of Portage la Prairie in the next provincial election.In the middle of October, Wishart surprised KAP members when he resigned as president of the farm lobby group. The Portage area farmer was KAP’s president for nearly three years and was vice-president for four years before becoming president.The decision to quit KAP and enter politics wasn’t easy, Wishart said.”I gave it a lot of thought before I did it, believe me,” said Wishart, who tried to represent farmers of all political stripes during his time with KAP.”We worked really hard to be non-partisan (at KAP) because we had members from every party…. But previous to that I had been involved with the (PC) party, 15 or 20 years ago.”So far, Wishart is the only candidate seeking the Tory nomination in Portage la Prairie but he expects there will be challengers. The candidate for the constituency will likely be selected before the end of 2010, Wishart noted. A provincial election is scheduled for next fall in Manitoba. An Angus Reid poll, released in September, indicated that 49 percent of Manitobans support the Tories. The governing NDP was at 34 percent.

About the author

Robert Arnason is a reporter with The Western Producer and Glacier Farm Media. Since 2008, he has authored nearly 5,000 articles on anything and everything related to Canadian agriculture. He didn’t grow up on a farm, but Robert spent hundreds of days on his uncle’s cattle and grain farm in Manitoba. Robert started his journalism career in Winnipeg as a freelancer, then worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Nipawin, Saskatchewan and Fernie, BC. Robert has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Manitoba and a diploma in LSJF – Long Suffering Jets’ Fan.

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