Former Ontario cabinet minister Jeff Yurek is resigning his London-area seat and won’t seek re-election in the June provincial election.
Author of the article:
Calvi Leon • Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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The 10-year Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP, who plans to remain in office until the end of February, said Friday his “time in public life has run its course” as he announced his abrupt departure, just five months before the next Ontario election.
“It’s something I’ve been discussing with my family over the past few months,” the Progressive Conservative MPP said in an interview Friday.
“Heading into March and April, the focus at Queen’s Park will be on getting the next election campaign out, and I think having the party focused on that is probably the best time that I am able to step away,” he said.
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Yurek thanked his team for their support and accomplishments over the last 10 years, including launching a provincial forestry strategy, expanding Toronto’s subway system and providing funding for London’s bus rapid transit system, among others.
He also extended his appreciation to his family, including his wife and daughter, as well as the voters of Elgin-Middlesex-London.
“It’s been an honour to serve (residents in my riding),” he said. “I’m quite proud of the people I’ve represented. It’s been a highlight of my life, and I look forward to being a strong member of our community and helping where I can going forward.”
Yurek, 50, was a pharmacist before entering politics. He was first elected MPP for the riding that includes south London, St. Thomas and Elgin County in 2011, replacing Liberal Steve Peters, who retired, and went straight into Doug Ford’s cabinet after Ford led the Tories back to power in 2018.
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Yurek served first as Ford’s minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, then as Transportation minister and was minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks until last summer when he was shuffled out of the cabinet in a shakeup to take the Tories into an election year.
His departure from an often Tory riding in Southwestern Ontario leaves the party, which already had him listed online as part of its 2022 team, little time to find a replacement before the spring election.
Friday, Ford posted thanks on social media to Yurek “for his time and dedication in serving the people” in his riding.
“Congratulations Jeff on all that you accomplished during your 10 years as an MPP,” he said on Twitter. “Wishing you, your wife and daughter all the best as you enter the next chapter.”
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The premier’s office said there are no plans to call a byelection ahead of the general election in June.
With Yurek not seeking re-election, the Tories will be down three veterans in the 10-riding London region in the next election. Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece, another 10-year legislator, is not running again, and Chatham-Kent-Leamington veteran Rick Nicholls was expelled from the Tory caucus for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Trevor Jones, a Leamington civic politician, will run in Nicholls’ riding for the Tories in June.
Yurek’s decision to leave now isn’t “especially surprising,” given his long run in office, said political scientist Cristine de Clercy at Western University.
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“He didn’t say exactly why he was leaving, but it’s not unusual that people like him . . . . middle-age, mid-career politicians step down,” de Clercy said, adding sometimes “their desire to serve the public simply diminishes and their interests shift and they want to do something different.”
The Tories won seven of the 10 London-region seats in the last election, the New Democrats three — all in London — and the Liberals none.
Though Yurek’s seat will remain vacant for a few months before the next election is called, de Clercy said the time will allow for a more “transparent process to find new candidates, for all parties, not just the Conservatives.”
Yurek said he looks forward to staying active in his community, but does not plan to become involved politically.
“At this point, I think I’m done with public life per se,” he said. “I think it’s more so supporting our community outside of politics.”
Opinion: Brad West been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization
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Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
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VICTORIA — Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West fired off a letter to Premier David Eby last week about Allan Schoenborn, the child killer who changed his name in a bid for anonymity.
“It is completely beyond the pale that individuals like Schoenborn have the ability to legally change their name in an attempt to disassociate themselves from their horrific crimes and to evade the public,” wrote West.
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The Alberta government has legislated against dangerous, long-term and high risk offenders who seek to change their names to escape public scrutiny.
“I urge your government to pass similar legislation as a high priority to ensure the safety of British Columbians,” West wrote the premier.
The B.C. Review Board has granted Schoenborn overnight, unescorted leave for up to 28 days, and he spent some of that time in Port Coquitlam, according to West.
This despite the board being notified that “in the last two years there have been 15 reported incidents where Schoenborn demonstrated aggressive behaviour.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that an individual who has committed such heinous crimes, and continues to demonstrate this type of behaviour, is able to roam the community unescorted.”
Understandably, those details alarmed PoCo residents.
But the letter is also an example of the outspoken mayor’s penchant for to-the-point pronouncements on provincewide concerns.
He’s been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization.
His most recent blast followed the news that the New Democrats were appointing a task force to advise on ways to curb the use of illicit drugs and the spread of weapons in provincial hospitals.
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“Where the hell is the common sense here?” West told Mike Smyth on CKNW recently. “This has just gone way too far. And to have a task force to figure out what to do — it’s obvious what we need to do.
“In a hospital, there’s no weapons and you can’t smoke crack or fentanyl or any other drugs. There you go. Just saved God knows how much money and probably at least six months of dithering.”
He had a pithy comment on the government’s excessive reliance on outside consultants like MNP to process grants for clean energy and other programs.
“If ever there was a place to find savings that could be redirected to actually delivering core public services, it is government contracts to consultants like MNP,” wrote West.
He’s also broken with the Eby government on the carbon tax.
“The NDP once opposed the carbon tax because, by its very design, it is punishing to working people,” wrote West in a social media posting.
“The whole point of the tax is to make gas MORE expensive so people don’t use it. But instead of being honest about that, advocates rely on flimsy rebate BS. It is hard to find someone who thinks they are getting more dollars back in rebates than they are paying in carbon tax on gas, home heat, etc.”
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West has a history with the NDP. He was a political staffer and campaign worker with Mike Farnworth, the longtime NDP MLA for Port Coquitlam and now minister of public safety.
When West showed up at the legislature recently, Farnworth introduced him to the house as “the best mayor in Canada” and endorsed him as his successor: “I hope at some time he follows in my footsteps and takes over when I decide to retire — which is not just yet,” added Farnworth who is running this year for what would be his eighth term.
Other political players have their eye on West as a future prospect as well.
Several parties have invited him to run in the next federal election. He turned them all down.
Lately there has also been an effort to recruit him to lead a unified Opposition party against Premier David Eby in this year’s provincial election.
I gather the advocates have some opinion polling to back them up and a scenario that would see B.C. United and the Conservatives make way (!) for a party to be named later.
Such flights of fancy are commonplace in B.C. when the NDP is poised to win against a divided Opposition.
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By going after West, the advocates pay a compliment to his record as mayor (low property taxes and a fix-every-pothole work ethic) and his populist stands on public safety, carbon taxation and other provincial issues.
The outreach to a small city mayor who has never run provincially also says something about the perceived weaknesses of the alternatives to Eby.
“It is humbling,” West said Monday when I asked his reaction to the overtures.
But he is a young father with two boys, aged three and seven. The mayor was 10 when he lost his own dad and he believes that if he sought provincial political leadership now, “I would not be the type of dad I want to be.”
When West ran for re-election — unopposed — in 2022, he promised to serve out the full four years as mayor.
He is poised to keep his word, confident that if the overtures to run provincially are serious, they will still be there when his term is up.
LIVE Q&A WITH B.C. PREMIER DAVID EBY: Join us April 23 at 3:30 p.m. when we will sit down with B.C. Premier David Eby for a special edition of Conversations Live. The premier will answer our questions — and yours — about a range of topics, including housing, drug decriminalization, transportation, the economy, crime and carbon taxes. Click HERE to get a link to the livestream emailed to your inbox.
New York Times reporter and CNN senior political analyst Maggie Haberman explains the significance of David Pecker, the ex-publisher of the National Enquirer, taking the stand in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump.
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