OTTAWA—Vic Toews, the gruff, mustachioed minister who was the face of the Conservative government’s tough-on-crime agenda through federal cabinet postings in public safety and justice, has cleared the way for a newcomer to the task.

A former Manitoba prosecutor, labour and justice minister before being elected under the Canadian Alliance banner in 2000, Toews’ resignation takes effect Tuesday. He formally announced Monday he is stepping down as public safety minister from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet. He is also stepping aside as MP for the Manitoba riding of Provencher.

Toews has long coveted a judicial appointment and sources say the prime minister was reluctant to appoint him to the bench directly from the government’s inner circle, in deference to the separation of the executive and judicial branches of government. It was long thought he’d need at least a one-year cooling-off period.

Two years before the end of his first majority mandate, with his government sagging in the polls seven and a half years after first coming to power, Harper has demanded cabinet members advise him if they will run again.

“It takes a great deal of deliberation on the part of those who decide to enter politics. It takes an even greater amount of consideration and effort to step out of office when one still enjoys the support of those who elected them. However, for me, the time has come to step aside and begin the next chapter of my life,” said Toews in the formal announcement Monday.

“I am leaving public life in order to focus on my family and to pursue opportunities in the private sector. I leave with a store of many wonderful memories, lifelong friendships and a sense of having accomplished many of the things I set out to do when I first began my political journey.”

With Toews announcing he will step aside, it brings to five the number of confirmed cabinet departures. The others are Sen. Marjory LeBreton, Diane Ablonczy, Keith Ashfield and Ted Menzies. A sixth, Peter Kent, has flagged he may be dropped from cabinet, but will remain an MP.

A cabinet shuffle is expected this week.

Toews oversaw the introduction of many of the Conservatives’ tougher criminal and anti-terror packages as justice minister, and — following a brief stint at Treasury Board — at the helm of the public safety file.

There, he was responsible for much of the country’s security apparatus, including federal prisons and parole boards, the Canadian Border Services Agency, the RCMP and CSIS. He worked on the Canada-U.S. border perimeter plan that sought to ease cross-border traffic and increase joint security measures.

Born into a conservative Mennonite Brethren family in Manitoba, his political career was marked by his vigorous opposition to same-sex marriage, the long-gun registry and support for mandatory minimum sentences in defiance of all critics who suggested prisons are filled to bursting.

Toews spent most of his life in Winnipeg. Asked once how far it is from Steinbach, where he makes his home in his riding, Toews quipped: “Some would say about two decades.”

Many Canadians would know Toews as the minister who last year doomed his own bill to expand police access to online subscriber data in emergency circumstances. Toews blasted critics in the Commons that they could “either stand with us or with the child pornographers.”

Canadians concerned about warrantless access to their private online information responded with outrage, and the so-called “lawful access” bill was first shelved, then killed.

Toews was one of the Conservatives’ most staunch defenders of “traditional marriage” as a union between one man and one woman, but his own marriage of more than 30 years crumbled during his time in Ottawa.

Toews’ liaison with a political staffer in another office led to his divorce, and to a second family for the man who came from a strict, religiously conservative background.

In his resignation statement, Toews said: “I would like to thank my spouse Stacey, my children and my extended family and friends for their patience and understanding. There are tremendous sacrifices made by family members so that elected officials can serve in public office. It is not an easy life for family and words alone cannot describe my gratitude for your unyielding support.”

His father was an ordained Mennonite Brethren pastor and teacher, his mother also a Mennonite from a strict, evangelical background. Both their families fled Ukraine in the 1920s. There was no drinking, no dancing and no smoking in his household.

Toews could nevertheless surprise those who saw him as a stern right-wing caricature.

A jazz fan, he often enjoyed a beer, a hearty laugh and political talk with a twinkle in his eye. But he rarely showed that side as a legislator in the public sphere.

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Harper’s office posted on the prime minister’s Twitter account a message of “sincere thanks” to Toews “as he leaves Parliament,” adding, “Best wishes for the future.”

NDP justice critic Françoise Boivin said she looks forward to seeing who Harper appoints as the new public safety minister.

“I wish (Toews) all the best for his future work, but very humbly and candidly I would say that many of my colleagues and myself won’t miss his insults,” Boivin said.

With files from Joanna Smith.

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