Long-time Lakeside MLA Ralph Eichler says he won’t seek re-election in 2023.
The former two-time provincial agriculture minister made the announcement to colleagues on Oct. 4.
Eichler was first elected in 2003, and his first term as agriculture minister began after the 2016 election when the Progressive Conservatives formed government. He held the portfolio for three years.
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During his first term as minister, many noted Eichler’s work ethic, including Premier Brian Pallister, who singled him out on more than one occasion as a top performer in his cabinet.
In a profile published by the Co-operator following Eichler’s first appointment to the role, Eichler told now-retired reporter Allan Dawson that he enjoyed motorcycles and rodeos in his personal time, but that he anticipated less of that as he assumed his new responsibilities.
“I am a workaholic… I am going to have a hard time pulling back from my responsibilities,” he said at the time.
Eichler was later appointed Minister of Economic Development and Training (later Economic Development and Jobs), a position he held from October 2019 to July 2021.
He was returned to the agriculture portfolio in July 2021 and remained in cabinet until January 2022, when Premier Heather Stefanson appointed her first cabinet.
The next general election will be on or before Oct. 3, 2023.
