"It's sort of like Pavlov's dog," he jokes.
But Kilgour and his team of campaigners won't be roaming the streets of Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont this time around.
After 26 years as an MP representing southeast Edmonton, he's not running again. This is the first Edmonton election he won't take part in since winning his first seat in 1979. Kilgour, 64, had a long and controversial career in Parliament.
He's been called many things: crusader for Third World issues, defender of the West, a man of faith, a populist, a tireless constituency worker.
But it's hard to call Kilgour a team player.
He had been a lifelong Tory, initially running in Vancouver in 1968 and losing, and a Conservative MP for 11 years when he was kicked out of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1990 for opposing the GST. He became a Liberal a few months later, but quit that party last spring, quoting his dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Paul Martin's government for its lack of action on the killings in Darfur. His career had a number of twists and turns and he occasionally found himself at odds with whatever party he joined.
Running as a Tory in the 1988 election campaign, he tried to delay publication of his book Uneasy Patriots, which analysed the roots of western alienation, a theme picked up by the fledgling Reform party.
As a Liberal, he missed a crucial vote on the same-sex marriage law earlier this year because of an alleged sore back.
Kilgour doesn't like to use the word "renegade" to describe himself.
"I'd describe it as marching to your own drum or something. It sounds a lot better than renegade, which sounds like you're a child murderer or something. I take great pride in that. You've got your conscience, your voters and the party, and you have to make the three of them reconciled to each other."
It's not a surprise that Kilgour angered some of his colleagues along the way. Scott Thorkelson, who was an Edmonton Tory MP around the time Kilgour got kicked out of the caucus, describes Kilgour as a "lone wolf" who found party politics difficult. "When things got tough for the Conservatives, he bailed; when things got tough for the Liberals, he bailed."
But Thorkelson acknowledges that Kilgour was an effective constituency MP. Kilgour credits that for his longevity in Parliament, despite bouncing from party to party.
"Everybody has concerns and they want someone who will stand up for their goals. You've got to know that year after year your goal is to represent the views of your constituents."
He was also popular with the ethnic groups in his multicultural riding. Amarjeet Sohi, a member of the Mill Woods Sikh community, says Kilgour earned the respect of ethnic groups through his personality and acceptance of different cultures and different value systems.
Kilgour never received a full cabinet appointment, but his seven years as secretary of state for foreign affairs under the Liberals more than made up for that. During that time, he went to 75 countries and the experience served to heighten his interest in improving the lot of developing countries. He has been vocal in promoting the aim, initially proclaimed 40 years ago by Lester Pearson, of directing 0.7 per cent of Canada's gross domestic product to foreign aid. It stands at less than 0.3 per cent.
That was the low point in his political career, he says. He felt he and other MPs were being attacked for their religious beliefs. In his writings on his website, Kilgour suggests caution in mixing church and state, but also feels society should be guided by higher values.
He says he was also guided by his constituents on the same-sex marriage issue. A poll in his riding showed more than two-thirds of the constituents opposed it.
Besides leaving Parliament after 26 years, Kilgour's life is changing in other ways. With his four children departed for all points on the globe, he and his wife Laura, a federal public servant, are empty-nesters.
One of his daughters recently sent him a book about great hiking trips and since he is as fit as a fiddle, he expects to see even more of the world during his life after Parliament.
msadava@thejournal.canwest.com
