The retirement of Bruce Grey Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch will leave some big shoes to fill in the Conservative caucus.
Murdoch will not seek re-election in the October 2011 provincial election.
That throws the riding open and could result in a interesting campaign.
As far as the local conservatives go, two people are rumoured to be potential replacements for Murdoch.
Bill Walker is the former Executive Director of the Bruce Peninsula Health Services Foundation — and Kelly Shute was Murdoch’s campaign manager in the last provincial election.
No nomination meeting has been set, but Conservative caucus chair at Queens Park, Toby Barrett says getting a nominee early could be key.
Barrett says it would allow the nominee to become better known amoung voters prior to the actual election.
Meanwhile, Barrett says Bill Murdoch was a great MPP for the riding.
He says he always put his constituents first and even though they didn’t always agree on things you always knew Murdoch was a straight shooter.
Barrett says he would favour someone local as a replacement, and he doesn’t like parachute candidates or star candidates.
