OTTAWA - The member of Parliament for Souris-Moose Mountain will be seeking another term when the next federal election is called.
Robert Kitchen says he will be vying for the Conservative Party's nomination, and should he win it, would be the party's candidate. A nomination meeting has not been scheduled.
He has been the MP for the southeast constituency since 2015. All three of his electoral victories have been decisive. When he was re-elected in 2021, he captured 76.4 per cent of the popular vote.
"I've learned an awful lot," said Kitchen in an interview with Â鶹ÊÓƵ. "I've always said from Day 1 that as long as I'm learning something new every day, then I see that as being of value, and I will continue to do that. The job is always a learning thing; there's so much to learn as we move forward, so those are things I look forward to."
Kitchen wants to promote the agriculture, mining, and oil and gas sectors as much as possible, and he hopes he can do it from the government side of the House of Commons after the next election. The Tories have been in opposition since Kitchen was elected in October 2015.
The date for the next federal election is unknown, as the Liberals currently have a minority government that is supported by the federal New Democratic Party. The next scheduled vote is the fall of 2025, but it could be earlier if the NDP withdraws its backing of the Liberals on confidence votes.
He admits it's been challenging to make things happen while in opposition.
"The steps that I've looked for have been to try to make certain that I've been able to get constituents to where they need to be," said Kitchen.
The fact that the Tories currently lead in the polls is a "bonus", he said, but polls are only as good as the results on election day.
Kitchen said he hopes nobody will oppose him for the Tories' nomination, but he'd be ready if anyone did.
"I'd like to think that after three terms, people have seen what I've been able to do and continue to do, and I will continue to fight on their behalf."
If an election were to happen, he has his team ready to go. But it's hard to say when, or if, the NDP would back away from its current arrangement with the Liberals.
"I know I would like to have the election as soon as possible and to move forward, but as to whether they will hold off for another two years, we won't know that for a while," said Kitchen.
He has enjoyed meeting and talking with constituents in the past eight years, and he looks forward to remaining in his current role.
