Helena Konanz has withdrawn from the race just two weeks after announcing she would be seeking the Conservative nomination for the 2015 federal election.
Konanz’ announcement and withdrawal are both in advance of any dates being set for the Conservative nomination race for the new South Okanagan West Kootenay riding, which comes into being with the next election.
“At least I haven’t signed any papers or anything,” said Konanz, who is currently a City of Penticton councillor. “I really enjoy my job at council and want to continue.”
She explained that after taking time to consider, she decided holding the position of federal MP would not be in the best interests of her family.
“It became apparent what I was signing up for,” she said. “I reflected on what day to day life as an MP would be like and realized it was going to be really onerous on my family and myself.”
Konanz said the possibility of other long-time Conservative hopefuls, like Marshall Neufeld, coming forward to run for the Conservative nomination didn’t figure into reversing her decision.
“I think there is going to be a lot of candidates coming forward. It’s going to be an interesting nomination campaign,” she said, adding that she will definitely be supporting the Conservatives in 2015, but it will take a special person to handle the entire riding, which will stretch from Penticton to the U.S. border and east into the Slocan Valley.
