Image: Mike de Jong

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Federal election

Burned by the Conservatives, Fraser Valley candidate garners endorsements from 2 notables

Apr 16, 2025 | 8:41 AM

CHILLIWACK — After campaigning for a year only to be turned down by the federal Conservatives, former Abbotsford-West MLA turned independent MP candidate Mike de Jong has received two notable endorsements in the race for Abbotsford-South Langley.

Abbotsford MP Ed Fast and former Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun have both endorsed de Jong, who says he was approached by the Conservative Party in 2023 to seek the nomination in Abbotsford-South Langley.

“I campaigned for a year, earning trust & support from local members. The local Conservative riding association unanimously recommended me as a nomination contestant,” de Jong wrote on X. “But 5 days before the vote, Ottawa party operatives overruled the local decision.”

He claims the Conservative Party of Canada disallowed his candidacy without any explanation, paving the way for what de Jong says was a “24-year-old contestant who had been unanimously rejected by the local selection committee.” Ultimately, de Jong’s appeal was denied.

The Conservative Party instead nominated and acclaimed candidate Sukhdeep Gill, a 25-year-old businessman.

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He has also released internal polling that shows he is neck in neck with Gill, who leads by only a point, 32-31, while the Liberal candidate, Kevin Gillies, has 25 per cent, and the NDP, Green Party and People’s Party of Canada are only registering single digits.

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

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.”