Image: Canadian Press / Former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister and longtime MLA Michael de Jong.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Former B.C. Liberal to run

Former Abbotsford MLA will run as an independent after being denied as Conservative Party candidate

Mar 27, 2025 | 8:36 AM

ABBOTSFORD — After being told that he could not run as a Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the Fraser Valley, former Abbotsford-West MLA Michael de Jong isn’t giving up.

De Jong’s name now appears as a confirmed independent candidate on the Elections Canada website for the Abbotsford-South Langley riding. His presence on the ballot could split what was likely seen as a safe seat for the Conservative Party.

In early March, the former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister and longtime MLA said he had been told by the Conservative Party of Canada that he is no longer in the running to be a candidate for the party in the next federal election.

Instead, the Conservative Party nominated 24-year-old Sukhman Singh Gill to run.

According to the Canadian Press, he found it “mystifying” that the party won’t allow him to contest the nomination in the riding of Abbotsford-South Langley after campaigning for the spot for almost a year.

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The former long-serving MLA says he received a “three line message” from the party telling him his application to be in the nomination race had been denied.

De Jong said he was both “surprised” and “disappointed” and felt sorry for the volunteers who had helped him try to clinch the nomination.

He says he was puzzled that the party had deemed him “unworthy” or “unqualified” to run for the party in a community he’d served provincially for three decades, according to the Canadian Press.

De Jong says the nomination application process was “comprehensive” and he says he’s not “prone to speculate” about what the problem with his potential candidacy the party may have, but it “sounds like someone didn’t like me.”