Ian Wishart, former president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers, is leaping into provincial politics.
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 mid-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 that.
The decision to give up his role and enter politics wasn’t easy, Wishart said.
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“I gave it a lot of thought before I did it, believe me,” said Wishart.
“We worked really hard to be nonpartisan (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.”
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 said.
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.
