Former Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak will resign his seat in September to become the next CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association.
Hudak said he will formally resign his seat on Sept. 16 and assume his new role sometime in October.
After 21 years as an MPP from Niagara and five years spent as leader of the party, Hudak says he’ll work to “ help make home ownership more affordable and to increase housing supply and choices” as head of the trade association representing Ontario’s more than 64,000 realtors and salespeople.
Hudak was first elected in 1995 as part of the “Common Sense Revolution” led by Mike Harris. He was only 27-years-old at the time.
In the second term of the Harris majority Hudak was named to cabinet, serving as tourism, consumer services and northern development and mines minister between 1999 and 2003.
He ran for leadership of the party in 2009 and won. He contested the 2011 and 2014 general elections but failed to defeat the Liberals.
In the 2011 election, Hudak grew the size of his caucus by 11 seats and reduced the Liberals to minority status in the legislature.
But his 2014 election campaign pledge to cut 100,000 provincial public servants was widely panned by colleagues after the election and enabled incumbent Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to regain a majority government.
”These past 21 years have been tremendously rewarding and I will miss my colleagues in all three parties. Our parliamentary democracy exists to emphasize our differences, but our common commitment to building a better Ontario is what truly unites us,” Hudak said in a news release.
In a news release issued Tuesday, current PC leader Patrick Brown thanked Hudak for his “passionate years of service and advocacy.”
“I know all of us will miss his advice and experience around the caucus table. We wish him all the very best in this chapter of his career.”
Wynne called Hudak a “vocal champion for the people of his community,” in a news release on Tuesday.
“While Tim and I may have disagreed at times, I know that we both share a love for this province, a commitment to our children and to future generations, and our belief that the people of Ontario are among the most talented, generous and capable in the world”
