After 15 years as a provincial politician, Hants West MLA Chuck Porter has announced he will not be reoffering in the next provincial election.
The veteran cabinet minister, who now leads the Department of Lands and Forestry, said he made the decision over the Easter weekend and informed the premier on Thursday morning.
“I’ll be 57 years old this year and I still have something to give, so if I’m going to have a career in politics, it’s probably time to start thinking about that,” he said in an interview.
READ MORE: N.S. deputy premier Karen Casey will not be reoffering in the next provincial election
Porter was first elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as the Tory MLA for Hants West in 2006. He was re-elected in 2009, 2013 and 2017, having crossed the floor to sit with the Liberals in 2016. Since then, he has also served as the minister of municipal affairs and housing and the minister of energy and mines.
Porter was appointed to Lands and Forestry in February by newly-minted Premier Iain Rankin, who he endorsed in the Liberal leadership race.
Since then, the pair has made headlines for removing key enforcement powers in Bill 4, the Biodiversity Act, which passed on Tuesday after several hours of debate. At the time, they said the changes would encourage cooperation and participation from landowners, but environmental advocates disagreed.
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Porter said neither that controversy, nor his relations with the premier influenced his decision.
READ MORE: After biodiversity bill controversy, environmental advocates give mixed review to new budget
Among his proudest achievements in politics, he added, is the amount of funding secured for his constituency of Hants West.
Rankin said Thursday he was “surprised” to hear Porter would not reoffer, but “respected” his decision.
“People need to make the decisions that’s best for them and their families,” he said at Province House. “I appreciated his support in the leadership race and taking on some challenging portfolios for us in this period of time.”
Porter is the ninth Liberal MLA to confirm they’ll be leaving Nova Scotia politics. Seven of those representatives are or were cabinet ministers.
Rankin said work is already underway to find candidates to fill those seats. The current Liberal mandate ends next spring, meaning a provincial election must be called before then.
“We are recruiting candidates across the province and everyone brings different skill sets forward, hopefully we’ll have more women at the cabinet table for example, different perspectives, so I’m looking forward to that,” said Rankin.
READ MORE: N.S. Justice Minister Mark Furey announces he will not be reoffering
The other Liberal MLAs who’ve decided not to reoffer are Geoff MacLellan, Mark Furey, Karen Casey, Gordon Wilson, Leo Glavine, Margaret Miller, Bill Horne and former premier Stephen McNeil.
The Nova Scotia Liberal Party confirms five of its sitting MLAs have been acclaimed, five more meetings are scheduled for sitting MLAs, and another 10 candidate nomination meetings have been called.
The Nova Scotia New Democrats say they have 22 nominated candidates, four scheduled nominations, and 10 nominations expected to be scheduled soon.
The Nova Scotia PCs have 33 candidates confirmed, two spots open and others opening soon.
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