Yukon Senator Daniel Lang retiring from the upper chamber

Conservative Senator Daniel Langis retiring from the red chamber six years early.

Lang made the announcement in the Senate chamber Thursday as senators prepared to rise for the summer. Lang told his colleagues that he wants to spend more time with his family in Yukon.

"After 27 years in public life, it has come time for me to move to another chapter in my life," he said in a statement in the upper chamber.

"I have been very fortunate to serve in elected office for five terms in the Yukon Legislative Assembly starting in 1974 and ending 1992,and now I have had the great honour of serving the Senate for the last eight and a half years as the appointed Senator for Yukon."

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Appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2009, Langand did not face mandatory retirement until 2023.

He served as the Chairman of the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence for four years. In that time the committee released reports on everything from sexual harassment and bullying in the RCMP to terrorist threats. It also producedthree defence policy reports.

Touting projects for rural Canada

Lang also touted his work on advancing projects for Yukon and rural Canada.

"It seems like yesterday when I arrived and one of my first orders of business was to sponsor in the Senate, the repeal of the long gun registry which was so detested in rural and Northern Canada and especially in Yukon,"Lang said.

Lang also said he was proud of"the building of First Nations multicultural facilities in communities such as Haines Junction, Carcross and Whitehorse and also in helping in assisting in buildingmany housing developments through Yukon."

Lang had faced allegations of workplace harassment during his time as senator, buttold the CBC in Aprilneither he nor his office were in breach of Senate policy related to workplace harassment or any other Senate policy.

He is entitled to receive a full pension since he has served more than 6 years.

Lang's last day as a senator will be Aug. 15.