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Mission-Mastqui-Fraser Canyon MP Jati Sidhu to run for federal re-election

The Liberal candidate has officially announced he will be on the ballot this October
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Jati Sidhu, the Liberal MP for Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon, speaking after his 2015 election win. (File photo)

Liberal MP Jati Sidhu will be running for re-election in the Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon riding this October.

“I have lived and worked in this community since coming to BC in 1974,” Sidhu said in a press release issued Tuesday (July 23).

“My three children were raised here. I worked as a farmer and then a building contractor … I have always been drawn to public service, and I hope to continue the work I have started into the next term.”

Sidhu won the 2015 federal election with the Liberals in a surprise victory for an area that had traditionally been a Conservative stronghold. That election was the first one for the newly-created Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon riding, which includes parts of Abbotsford as well as Agassiz, Harrison, Mission, Lillooet, Lytton, Cache Creek and Ashcroft.

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The size of the riding has been a challenge in the past four years, Sidhu said in the release, and one he says he has dealt with by maintaining an employee in Lillooet to act as a northern liaison, and has also held townhalls for general concerns and specific policy needs.

“I am proud of the work my team and I have done since 2015,” he said in the release.

“A top priority for us was much-needed infrastructure funding for the Fraser Valley, and we delivered: four-laning the highway at Abbotsford Airport, a new water treatment plant in Ashcroft, new water delivery system in Harrison, plus ongoing support for infrastructure improvements in Lillooet and Lytton.

“We also focused on transportation and have committed to a new BC Transit facility to serve Mission and Abbotsford, as well for expanding the West Coast Express fleet to help our Mission commuters.”

Sidhu’s time as MP has not been without controversy, particularly over his comments about former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould and his application to have the Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon riding renamed “Abbotsford-Mission-Fraser Canyon.”

RELATED: UPDATE: Abbotsford-area MP apologizes for ‘inappropriate’ comments

RELATED: LETTER: Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon name change not because of shame

In Sidhu’s announcement, he said he was excited to continue working with the Liberal party on their vision to help Canada’s middle class share “in our nation’s prosperity.”

“The Liberal government’s plan is working,” he said, “and I want to keep working with it.”

Sidhu isn’t the first to announce his candidacy. The federal election has already seen some activity in the riding, as Conservative candidate Brad Vis and Green candidate John Kidder have already begun holding townhalls throughout the area.

RELATED: Green party leader, local candidate visit Harrison in riding ‘lightning tour’

The federal election will be held on or before Oct. 21 of this year.



grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com

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