A familiar face – and voice – announced this week he would like to replace Lambton-Kent Middlesex MP Bev Shipley in Ottawa: Greg Hetherington.
The owner of CKXS FM and longtime “voice of Chatham-Kent” said he plans to seek the nomination to represent the Conservative Party for the riding for the next federal election.
Shipley, who has represented the riding since 2006, announced in July that he would not seek re-election.
Hetherington hopes to fill those shoes.
“A lot of people don’t know of my interest in politics. I’ve thought about it for 10-12 years,” he said. “When Bev announced his retirement, it perked my ears up. My wife and I have talked for about two months on how it would work.
“This seems like the best time for me with the way my work is going. The company I run is running well and has great people behind it.”
Hetherington has operated his business since 2009 in Wallaceburg and lives in the area.
“I want to be a bigger part of the community and this is a way to do it: Be a voice in Ottawa and hopefully obtain funding to help our region improve,” he said.
He knows he has a big riding – geographically larger than Prince Edward Island – to appeal to.
He also knows that had this opportunity come up a decade ago, he would not have been a good fit for the job.
“I think 10 years ago, if I thought about putting my name in, I wasn’t ready. I definitely would have been a failure,” he said. “I know so much more now, running a business, and getting to know the community and this riding.”
Hetherington said he believes in fiscal responsibility and that the Trudeau government is “spending way too much money. That’s the biggest problem our country faces. I’m fiscally responsible. That’s how I run my life – looking at budgets. A big part of why I want to run for the Conservatives is that they are fiscally responsible.”
Hetherington said if he wins the nomination, he’d pull himself off the air at his radio station, as he doesn’t want it to appear as if he’d use it as a personal political platform.
