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WINNIPEG - A key member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet could be parachuted into a judgeship in Manitoba, a Conservative Party source has told the Canadian Press.

Treasury Board President Vic Toews is expected to be offered a federally appointed judicial position, said the source. Toews represents the Provencher riding in Manitoba's Bible Belt, generally regarded as a safe Tory seat. But Toews' wife of more than 30 years, Lorraine Kathleen Fehr, has filed divorce papers. Court records show the divorce petition was entered March 31.

Questions about the possible career change were dismissed as "anonymous rumours" by Toews' office.

"The minister has been the nominated candidate for his riding for some time, he is dedicated to his constituents, and as such will be running in the next election," Mike Storeshaw, Toews' director of communications, wrote Friday in an e-mail to The Canadian Press.

Toews was named justice minister when the Tories were elected in 2006. He held the position for eleven months until he was moved into the Treasury Board post.

It wasn't the first time he worked as justice minister. He spent two years as Manitoba's attorney general until the provincial Progressive Conservatives were ousted from office in 1999 by the New Democrats.

Toews was elected as MP for Provencher in 2000. Trained as a lawyer at the University of Manitoba, he was called to the bar in 1977, and worked for Manitoba Justice until 1991.