MP Martin Shield will not run in next federal election

By Medicine Hat News on February 13, 2025.

Brooks and Taber area MP Martin Shields will not stand for re-election when Canadians next go to the polls, the three-term member of parliament has announced.

“It (has been) an opportunity that very few people have, and I am honoured to have received the overwhelming support and trust of the Bow River constituents,” Shields, 76, wrote in a letter to constituents earlier this month. “It is time for a new representative to serve the interests and the people of this riding.”

Shields thanked his family, staff and the other elected leaders in the riding, which comprises five provincial ridings, cities, towns and villages.

“This country has bright Conservative leaders and I look forward to watching their success in the years to come,” Shields .

Shields, a former school principal, was the mayor of Brooks when he ran in the 2015 federal election for the Conservatives, then was re-elected in 2019 and 2021.

The 2025 federal election is scheduled to take place on Oct. 20, though opposition parties are threatening to force one as early as spring.

Inquiries to the Bow River CPC constituency Association regarding a nomination process were not returned Wednesday.

The Bow River constituency includes the Counties of Newell, Vulcan, Wheatland and others near Calgary, as well as the M.D. of Taber. It was created during boundary redistribution in 2013, moving the Brooks area out of the Medicine Hat riding. The process also redrew the Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner constituency.

MP Glen Motz has confirmed that he will be the CPC candidate in the upcoming election.