Longtime Edmonton MP Peter Goldring will not seek re-election

EDMONTON – Longtime Edmonton Conservative MP Peter Goldring says he will not run again in the next federal election.

Goldring, who is 69, says it’s time to move on to other projects as well as spend more time with his family.

He was first elected in the riding of Edmonton East in 1997 under the Reform party banner.

He says highlights in his political career include his work on the unity committee following the 1995 Quebec referendum, three years as veterans affairs critic and his work in Ukraine.

He helped oversee the 2004 presidential election in that country and last May undertook a fact-finding mission for the federal government.

In 2013, Goldring was found not guilty of failing to provide a breath sample during a police checkstop after a Christmas party in December 2011.

He resigned from the Conservative caucus after he was charged and sat as an Independent until he returned to the party after his acquittal.

Goldring acknowledged he had had a couple of drinks and argued in court that he wasn’t trying to avoid taking a test. He simply asked questions of the police officer that any person in his situation would have asked, he said.

Goldring has long criticized road-side breath tests as an infringement on a person’s rights.

He also revived his pitch earlier this year for Canada to annex the Caribbean island territory of Turks and Caicos and make it the 11th province. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird quickly dismissed the idea.