By Canadian Press

Former Tory cabinet minister, leadership contender Leitch to quit politics

Jan 24, 2018 | 6:49 AM

OTTAWA — Failed Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch says she won’t seek re-election in 2019.

Leitch gained notoriety during the leadership race for her controversial proposal to screen newcomers for Canadian values.

That followed her role during the 2015 election as a pitch woman for a Conservative plan to launch a hotline for people to report so-called barbaric cultural practices.

Leitch was first elected in 2011 and went on to serve as a cabinet minister under Stephen Harper.

She finished sixth in last May’s leadership contest and was subsequently left out of winner Andrew Scheer’s shadow cabinet.

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Her announcement comes as the Tories gather in Victoria to plot strategy for the resumption of Parliament next week.

“As much as I have enjoyed public life, the time has now come for me to return to the public service that is core to my being and forms the very roots of who I am: being a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and getting children back on playgrounds,” Leitch said in a statement.

There was no guarantee Leitch could even have run again for the Tories in 2019.

Two people filed applications to the party late last year to challenge her for the Conservative nomination in the riding.

The Canadian Press