By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 23, 2015

Industry Minister James Moore leaving federal politics

Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is grappling with another looming high-profile departure as Industry Minister James Moore, a well-liked politician and moderate voice in the party, announced Friday he won’t be running in the October election.

Moore, the MP for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, caught Conservative insiders and fellow MPs off guard with his announcement that he would be leaving politics, citing family and the health of his young son as the reason.

“Balancing family responsibilities while in public life is always a challenge,” Moore said in a statement.

“This is particularly true when you have a child with special needs. Recently my wife and I received some difficult news about the health of our beautiful son Spencer,” said Moore, who did not go into specifics.

In his statement, Moore said he would finish out his term and return to B.C. to “pursue new opportunities and be closer to my young family.”

He is the latest in a string of cabinet ministers who have either quit or signalled they won’t be running again this fall — Justice Minister Peter MacKay, John Baird, who left as foreign affairs minister, Heritage Minister Shelly Glover and International Development Minister Christian Paradis, in addition to the more than two dozen backbench Tories who won’t return to Ottawa. (Source: Toronto Star)

Published in the Thunder Bay Chronicle Herald, NUPGE, The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, The Woodstock Sentinel Review and iPolitics.ca