In February 2010,
Jim Abbott, the local member of parliament for the past 17 years, announced he would not seek re-election. Wilks endorsed
Bill Bennett to replace Abbott but Bennett declined. The 50-year-old Wilks subsequently announced his intent to seek the Conservative Party nomination for the next election. He stepped down from the Chair position at the Regional District to better focus on his campaign but remained a director. In the March 2011 Conservative Party nomination election, Wilks faced three other candidates: a 29-year-old town councillor from
Creston, a lawyer from
Cranbrook, and an engineer also from Cranbrook. Wilks campaign unknowingly employed a con artist who stole an undisclosed sum of money before disappearing. Despite the theft, Wilks won the nomination. During the campaign for the
federal election, Wilks faced former
Invermere mayor Mark Shmigelsky for NDP, and
Kimberley residents Betty Aitchison, Bill Green, and Brent Bush. Wilks was seen as the front-runner but his campaign was criticized for avoiding all-candidate forums and debates, skipping the forums in
Revelstoke,
Kimberley, and
Invermere. During the campaign, Wilks noted that he would seek to direct federal funds to improving the
Trans-Canada Highway, "proper" punishment for criminals, and "proper" funding for the military, noting that his son was currently serving in the military as a combat engineer in Afghanistan. Wilks won the
Kootenay—Columbia riding with 56% of the vote. As the
41st Parliament began, Wilks was not selected to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper's
cabinet. He was appointed to the '
Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development' and the 'Standing Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations'. In the House of Commons, Wilks used his time on the floor on June 15, 2011, to describe why he sees the
New Democratic Party as a "radical hard left" political party. Following the high-profile kidnapping of a three-year-old boy from his hometown of Sparwood, Wilks introduced a private members bill (C-299) which would create a five-year minimum sentence for people convicted of kidnapping a person under the age of 16. Wilks' comments about the
2012 Canadian federal budget made national headlines in May 2012. Speaking at a meeting with constituents in
Revelstoke, Wilks stated his belief that the omnibus budget bill should be split into a series of smaller bills, but that as a
backbench MP, he had little alternative but to vote in favour because "that's how Ottawa works." Answering questions from the audience, he indicated that he and other backbenchers had little influence or input on the budget legislation. Two videos of Wilks' comments were posted online, with his permission. Shortly after the story broke, Wilks released a statement to the effect that he was in full support of the budget bill. During the
2015 Canadian federal election, Wilks made headlines for saying that it was "not fair" for Canadians to expect the government to take action on missing and murdered Indigenous women and that the matter should be dealt with simply as part of "missing and murdered people" in general, without using the term "Indigenous." Wilks ended up losing his seat to
Wayne Stetski of the NDP in one of the closest races of the country by just 282 votes. In 2018 Wilks let his name stand for Mayor for the District of Sparwood. He was successful for a four-year term that was renewed in 2022. In 2024 Wilks was elected a Director at Large for the
Union of British Columbia Municipalities at the convention in September. ==References==