OTTAWA -
Liberal MP Jim Peterson is set to announce his retirement from politics, leaving his Toronto seat vacant for recent party leadership candidate Martha Hall Findlay.
Peterson, who served as trade minister in Paul Martin's government, will officially make the announcement Thursday.
"I've been mulling this over for a long time with my wife,'' Peterson said.
"It's time to move on. I've been a member of Parliament for some 23 years -- wonderful years of my life -- but I'm 65 and I want to undertake new challenges."
His Willowdale nomination will be given to Hall Findlay who, unlike fellow leadership candidates Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy, is expected to be handed the riding without a nomination fight.
Rae filed his nomination papers Wednesday in hopes of becoming the Liberal candidate in Toronto Centre, a riding currently held by Bill Graham, the former interim Liberal leader who announced last month he won't seek re-election.
Hall Findlay's early support for Stephane Dion at the recent Liberal convention helped create the momentum that led to his come-from-behind leadership victory.
Hall Findlay has already won a Liberal nomination twice -- first when she lost the race in Newmarket-Aurora to Belinda Stronach in the 2004 election, then again when she was asked to step aside when Stronach became a Liberal before the 2005 election.
She will now vie for the Commons seat that Peterson has held for all but four years since 1980.
Peterson listed as an early highlight of his political career his work on ground-shifting sexual assault legislation when he was parliamentary secretary to then-justice minister Chretien in 1983.
The bill changed the Criminal Code to make it easier to obtain an assault conviction. It allowed for charges against a victim's partner, restricted the admissibility of sexual history in court, and ended the requirement that rape must be reported immediately.
"It was a major breakthrough from a very antiquated and harsh law,'' he said.
Peterson got a promotion when his longtime friend, Martin, became prime minister in December 2003.
As international trade minister, Peterson visited China five times, India twice and opened free-trade talks with South Korea.
The former lawyer and law professor says he will continue living in Toronto, and wants to work on projects related to international trade and climate change.
