JASON KENNEY

He will perform MP duties

Re: Give up your seat, Kenney, Aug. 17

As I have made clear, I will be stepping down as a member of Parliament when the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership officially begins in October. When I do so, I will be setting a new standard as the first MP to resign in order to pursue a party leadership. Until that date, I continue to perform my duties as an MP, and will be in my seat when the House of Commons resumes in September.

Your editorial failed to note that 35 MPs have run for provincial party leaderships without leaving Parliament, including Bob Rae, Jean Charest, Brian Tobin and Catherine Callbeck, all of whom retained their federal seats while pursing their provincial roles. In doing so, they were in line with the long-standing convention in Canada and other democracies of elected officials retaining their seats while pursing other offices, from Robert Stanfield seeking the PC leadership whilst premier of Nova Scotia, to Jack Layton campaigning for the NDP leadership as a Toronto councillor, to Amarjeet Sohi running for Parliament last year as a municipal councillor.

There are hundreds of such precedents in our history, none of which I can recall generating criticism from the Ottawa Citizen, or from me when I was with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

I anticipate that I will be running for the Alberta PC leadership against sitting MLAs, who will also be following the unbroken convention of legislators serving their constituents while campaigning for leadership positions. Every peer democracy observes the same tradition, like the dozens of U.S. senators and governors to have run presidential campaigns.

I will be the first candidate to break from this widespread democratic convention when I leave my seat in a few weeks. I therefore find it curious that I should be singled out for criticism. Perhaps the Citizen might be on more solid ground to encourage others to follow my lead. Jason Kenney, member of Parliament for Calgary Midnapore