New Democrat leadership candidate Pat Stogran has announced he is quitting the party’s leadership race.
The announcement was made in a YouTube video Saturday in which Stogran called the inner workings of the NDP “fundamentally flawed.” He says they’ve put “major obstacles” in front of candidates trying to grow the party’s base from the grassroots.
The retired Canadian Armed Forces colonel announced his intention to join the leadership race this past April at a downtown Ottawa hotel. Stogran served in the Canadian military for over 30 years and was Canada’s first Veterans Affairs ombudsman between 2007 and 2010.
“I came to the conclusion that my love for family far outweighs my love for politics. Especially selfish, incompetent politics. That’s why it breaks me to my core to be recording this message,” he said in the video.
There are now five official candidates in the race to succeed current leader Tom Mulcair of the NDP, which ends in October.
— With a file from The Canadian Press