Schuler announces upcoming retirement

Springfield-Ritchot MLA Ron Schuler will not be seeking re-election, a decision he announced on Wednesday.

The long time MLA was first elected in 1999, and he said it’s time to walk away.

Now 62 years old, Schuler said he’d be 64 at the next scheduled election in 2027. He’d be close to 70 by the time his term would end.

“Before every election, every elected official has to be honest with themselves,” he said. “You have to say, ‘Do I want this?’”

Spending more time with his grandkids is a priority for Schuler who said while he’s always enjoyed the role, he’s felt it’s time to leave, giving the party plenty of time to have a nomination race.

Schuler spent four years as a school trustee before becoming a provincial MLA.

He was first elected in the constituency of Springfield, succeeding retiring MLA and cabinet minister Glen Findlay in what he said was a hotly contested nomination race.

Welcomed by then Premier Gary Filmon, Schuler was declared a “great young addition to Team Filmon”.

He was re-elected in 2003 under PC leader Stuart Murray.

In 2006, he ran for the leadership of the party, placing second to Hugh McFadyen.

He was re-elected in Springfield in 2007 and later in the newly created constituency of St Paul in 2011.

He was elected once more in 2016 under Brian Pallister’s leadership, in 2019 in the newly created constituency of Springfield-Ritchot and in 2023 under the leadership of Obby Khan.

Schuler has held multiple roles during his time in government and opposition and said he’s pleased with the goals he’s met.

“I’ve basically completed what I wanted to and what I can reasonably complete,” he said.

A staunch PC Party member, Schuler recalls taking out his membership in 1981, when Sterling Lyon was premier.

And while he’s always enjoyed government work, it’s always been connecting with his constituents that was the highlight.

“I love constituency work,” he said. “Even people who disagree with me will say, ‘We really like you as a person.’ They just don’t agree with my party.”

Schuler said he won’t miss the last two years of what he calls toxic politics.

He said heckling in the legislature has become mean spirited.

He recalls a time when he and Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen would heckle Gary Doer.

“He’d tear into us,” he said. “We would laugh. It was funny.”

“He would call us the heartless capitalists, and we would call him a lazy socialist and it was all in fun. We jousted with each other.”

Schuler said under Wab Kinew’s government that friendly jousting has changed, saying he’s been called racist, misogynist, and an evil colonizer.

“It’s done in such a hateful manner,” he said.

Schuler said there is a real effect on MLAs when heckling becomes mean spirited.

“It demoralizes you,” he said.

There are many highlights that come to mind for Schuler and he said he’s brought billions to his constituency.

But it’s infrastructure that makes him most excited, a ministerial position he once held.

He said the overpass at Highway 59 and the perimeter and the designation to bring the perimeter to a freeway status were accomplishments he’s proud of.

“I pushed for (the overpass) almost my entire career and got to open it as minister,” he said. “What happens to that perimeter highway is going to be very important to us as residents of Steinbach and Niverville.”

Schuler said he wished he could have seen the twinning of Highway 59 from Ile des Chenes to Highway 52.

Schuler said infrastructure was his passion.

“I knew it, I understood it, and I was very good at it,” he said. “I knew my department from top to bottom.”

While Schuler loved working for many of the PC leaders, he said his tenure as deputy premier when Kelvin Goertzen was acting premier was his favourite.

He said he still regrets not pushing harder to get Goertzen into the running for full-time premier.

“It was so easy to work with him,” he said.

He said the party needs to focus on policy as they rebuild.

“I would suggest in rebuilding, you’ve got to make it clear to people what you believe in,” he said.

For now, Schuler is not taking his foot off the gas.

“I’m going to be the MLA until fall of 2027,” he said. “I enjoy my work, I enjoy the communities I represent.”

He will not endorse a candidate to replace him.

“I want a healthy nomination race,” he said. “I want it fair, open, and transparent.”

“I’d like to see anybody who thinks they should be an MLA go out and start selling memberships.”