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The only sitting Progressive Conservative MLA to be sanctioned for trying to push through a controversial sand-mining project is leaving provincial politics.
Jeff Wharton, a former cabinet minister, announced Thursday he won’t run in the next Manitoba election, which must be held on or before Oct. 5, 2027.
The Red River North MLA called serving in the legislature a privilege and honour.
“I want to express deep gratitude to my Progressive Conservative caucus colleagues,” Wharton said in a news release.
He said working alongside the Tories has been among the “most rewarding aspects of public life,” and he’s confident in the party’s direction under leader Obby Khan.
Several cabinet posts
The three-term MLA was first elected in 2016 in the then-riding of Gimli, when the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Pallister were ushered into office.
He held four different posts in cabinet. He led the municipal relations and Crown services portfolios during Pallister’s tenure, and then became minister of environment, climate and parks, followed by economic development, investment and trade, while Heather Stefanson was premier.
His current term has been marred by the provincial ethics commissioner determining he, along with Stefanson and former deputy premier Cliff Cullen, violated the conflict-of-interest law by pushing for a silica sand mine to be approved after his party was defeated in the 2023 election.
The Manitoba Legislature subsequently voted to mete out a $18,000 fine to Stefanson, a $12,000 fine to Cullen and a $10,000 fine to Wharton.
Wharton said he accepted the report’s findings when he apologized in the legislature.
He has kept a low profile ever since. The Tories stripped him of his critic duties.
Several other Tories have already announced they won’t seek re-election: Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen, Springfield-Ritchot MLA Ron Schuler, Turtle Mountain’s Doyle Piwniuk and Selkirk representative Richard Perchotte.
Dawson Trail MLA Bob Lagassé left the party’s caucus in March to sit as an independent.
