Former Abbotsford MLA spurned by federal Conservatives to run as independent
Posted March 27, 2025 11:23 am.
A former provincial cabinet minister who was denied the chance to run for the Conservatives in the upcoming federal election says he’s giving it another shot as an independent.
Mike de Jong, former MLA for Abbotsford West, says he’s simply responding to people in Abbotsford-South Langley who want his name on the ballot.
“The decision comes in the wake of a bizarre decision from the Conservative Party of Canada to block de Jong at the very last minute after a year of campaigning for the nomination,” said a statement posted to social media Friday.
De Jong claims party insiders disqualified him without explanation, paving the way for a candidate he says is unqualified.
“The people that I have represented for decades in the B.C. Legislature should not be forced to accept a candidate that has been imposed upon them by some backroom party hacks in Ottawa, particularly when the individual being forced upon them has demonstrated absolutely no capacity to discharge the duties of a member of Parliament,” de Jong said of Conservative candidate Sukhman Singh Gill, nominated earlier this month.
De Jong says the party’s decision overruled his selection by a local committee, which he says violates the principles of democracy.
He says running as an independent will be difficult, but claims “thousands of people” encouraged him to stay in the race.
1130 NewsRadio has reached out to Sukhman Singh Gill and the Conservative Party of Canada for comment.
