Former federal agriculture minister Andy Mitchell, narrowly defeated in the Jan. 23 election, has decided not to revive his political career.
In mid-November, Mitchell will move to Peterborough, Ont., to become president and chief executive officer of the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corp.
He has been acting as chief of staff to interim Liberal leader Bill Graham but that job ends in early December when a new leader is chosen at a Montreal convention.
A federal election is expected as early as next spring.
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The 53-year-old former rural banker first won election to the House of Commons in the Liberals’ unprecedented near-sweep of Ontario seats in 1993.
The Parry Sound-Muskoka riding had been a Progressive Conservative preserve for decades before. Mitchell held it for the Liberals through four elections.
In his new job, Mitchell will be trying to attract industry and jobs to the Peterborough area east of Toronto. It has a significant rural area and will soon become home to an 80-million-litre-per-year ethanol plant announced earlier this year that will purchase more than seven million bushels of corn from local producers.
During his 13 years in Parliament, Mitchell made rural economic development and more rural-sensitive policies his primary themes.
Meanwhile, his predecessor as agriculture minister continues to look for work after politics.
Speller was appointed president of Ottawa-area printing company St. Joseph’s after his 2004 defeat in a rural southern Ontario riding but stepped down to run unsuccessfully in the 2006 election.
He is permitted to work as a consultant and lobbyist now that his two-year cooling-off period after government service is over.
