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“I wish my former colleagues all the best in the future. I greatly respect all that they are trying to achieve as Alberta heads to the 2019 election, and I certainly would never want to be a distraction to those critical efforts,” Gill said.

“Serving the residents of Calgary-Greenway is a great honour, and it is my intention to continue to serve the community as an independent MLA for the remainder of my term.”

Gill said he will focus on spending time with his family. He declined to comment further.

Gill was elected as a PC MLA in 2016 after a byelection to replace Manmeet Bhullar, who was killed in a 2015 crash on Highway 2 when he stopped to help a motorist.

In a brief media statement Saturday evening, UCP leader Jason Kenney wished Gill well.

“I hope that we can now all move forward with our task of defeating the NDP and getting Alberta back on track,” Kenney said.

‘Reeks of entitlement’

Gill’s former PC colleague, Sandra Jansen, who crossed to the NDP in November 2016 and is now Alberta’s infrastructure minister, wasn’t surprised by Gill’s resignation.

Speaking to Postmedia from Calgary, Jansen slammed the UCP and Kenney for holding onto the report until after results were known in two byelections held this week. Both were won by UCP candidates.

“This reeks of entitlement. It absolutely lacks a moral and ethical framework and it goes on to completely validate a continuation of a pattern of bad behaviour amongst folks in the UCP,” she said.