Lambton's medical officer of health has thrown his hat into the political arena.
Dr. Sudit Ranade was acclaimed as the Liberal Candidate for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex on Wednesday, and will be running in the next federal election.
Ranade said he's still incredibly committed to his work as Lambton's MOH and will continue in the role until an election is called.
"If it was last year and we didn't have any vaccines and all of that stuff was different, I wouldn't even have considered it, I wouldn't have thought about it because I was head down in the middle of all of this stuff. Now as we're taking a breather and thinking about these things, I think there's a way that this can work where the health unit is very well supported and I can take this time to do this piece of work as well."
Ranade said in terms of the pandemic, we're in a good place locally.
The local MOH also talked about how he arrived at his decision to represent the LKM riding in Ottawa.
"The pandemic has really shown me how all of these political decisions that we make impact all of our lives in really dramatic and really significant ways. And so what I'm hoping to do is to be able to make a difference at that level next," he said. "I'm feeling hopeful, but also, brutally honestly, I'm very nervous because this is not a world that I generally participate in."
In a news release, Lambton Public Health said it is currently searching for an interim medical officer of health to serve during the election.
Incumbent and Conservative MP Lianne Rood was elected in October 2019 and was named Deputy Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
The Green Party has selected Jeremy Hull and the People's Party of Canada has not named a candidate for the riding yet.
It is widely expected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will drop the writ by early fall.
