Mike de Jong to run as an Independent in Abbotsford–South Langley after Conservative dismissal​on March 27, 2025 at 1:00 pm

After having his candidacy shut down by the Conservatives and his political experience questioned, Mike de Jong has decided to run as an Independent in Abbotsford–South Langley.

The 30-year veteran of the B.C. legislature and longtime finance minister to former premier Christy Clark said he made the decision after talking to supporters upset with the federal Conservative party’s choice to reject de Jong in favour of 24 year-old farmer Sukhman Singh Gill.

De Jong told Postmedia there is little difference between his views and federal Conservative policies, but the imposition of a candidate by the party’s head office left a bad taste.

“In over 30 years of public service, I have never encountered anything like this — the number of people who have reached out and contacted me and said, ‘This isn’t right. I don’t want my candidate selected by some backroom guy in Ottawa,’” he said.

“That, ultimately, is what persuaded me.”

He knows winning will be difficult.

Longtime colleagues Karin Kirkpatrick, Mike Bernier, Dan Davies and Tom Shypitka were defeated in October’s provincial election. All four ran as Independents after the collapse of B.C. United and were only able to get between 20 to 30 per cent of the vote.

Shypitka, who got the highest support among the former B.C. United candidates at 31 per cent in Kootenay–Rockies, said that if there is anybody who has a shot at making it as an independent, it is de Jong.

Calling de Jong a mentor, Shypitka said he is shocked the Conservatives refused him as a candidate given the number of decades he has been embedded in Abbotsford and the relationships he has built with constituents.

“I’m just shocked that the party would drop such an experienced politician,” he said. “For him to get booted at the 11th hour, I find that completely unconscionable. I just can’t imagine anybody making those kind of decisions.”

There is an opportunity for de Jong to play an outsized role in Ottawa if elected, said Shypitka, given that a minority Liberal or Conservative government is a possibility.

He said that his former caucus colleague was always a cool head during debates.

“Everybody would listen to what Mike had to say, because it was always measured, It was always well thought out. It wasn’t irrational or emotional, and it was always very (factual). I can say that Mike formed a lot of our decisions as a party,” said Shypitka.