Former Liberal cabinet minister Rich Coleman says he won’t run for re-election in 2021 and intends to retire from politics.
The MLA for Langley East made the announcement Saturday.
Coleman was first elected in 1996 and went on to hold various cabinet roles, including minister of housing, energy and mines, and public safety as well as solicitor general.
Coleman said he looks forward to no longer hearing the question: “So are you going to run again?” He said he remains fully committed to his constituents for the remainder of his sixth term as MLA but wanted to give the Liberals the opportunity to make plans for the riding ahead of the next election.
“Nobody asked me, nobody pushed me,” he said in an interview. “I spent five years in opposition and 16 years in government, then I did the interim leader thing when Christy [Clark, the former premier] left to sort of rebuild this thing. You have a new leader in Andrew [Wilkinson] and he’s doing a good job, and I thought, well, you know, I can’t see myself running for a seventh term.”
Coleman, 66, said he will eventually seek a new line of work. His focus, for now, remains on government, his health and his family, including seven grandchildren and a grand-niece.
He said it was tough reaching his decision, but making it public on Saturday left him feeling relieved after 24 years in B.C. government and politics.
“It’s such a privilege,” Coleman said.
“I’ve met so many wonderful people. I’ve been gifted with a great riding and people to work with. Public life can be a strain — especially today, with the social- media piece, if you pay attention to it. But on the other side, it’s very rewarding.”
Coleman served as deputy premier from 2012 to 2017 and was the B.C. Liberal interim leader during the party’s last leadership contest. Before his entry into politics, Coleman ran a real estate management and consulting company, and was an RCMP member and security specialist.
He decided to make the announcement on Feb. 29 to coincide with the anniversary of his first nomination on the same date in 1996, he said.
The announcement comes five days after the beginning of inquiry hearings led by commissioner Austin Cullen into money laundering.
Reports commissioned by the NDP have indicated money laundering worsened under the B.C. Liberals’ watch between 2009 and 2015.
Last week, Attorney General David Eby said former Liberal cabinet ministers should be called to the witness stand, including Coleman, former finance minister Mike de Jong and former premier Christy Clark.
Coleman said he believes the inquiry is important. “I am totally comfortable with the inquiry — I said it at the very beginning — because it will help us point to how we’ll get better in the future,” he said. “It will find how we truly have to work at it, as we learned about it, but it’ll also find out that people acted with integrity.”
In a statement, B.C. Liberals Leader Andrew Wilkinson thanked Coleman for his many years in provincial politics.
“Among many achievements as a cabinet minister, he oversaw the delivery of a record number of new housing units for vulnerable British Columbians, stickhandled the softwood lumber file through challenging times and laid the foundation for an LNG industry that will support British Columbia’s prosperity for generations to come — helping to improve the lives of people all over B.C.,” Wilkinson said.
“Nearly a quarter-century in public life requires significant personal sacrifices. In addition to recognizing Rich for his years of service to the people of Fort Langley- Aldergrove, Langley East, and all of British Columbia, we thank his wife Michele, and their children and grandchildren, for generously sharing Rich with our team.”
— With files from the Canadian Press
