NDP veteran gets back in politics in hometown
Robinson returns to Burnaby, to run in riding next to the federal leader of his party
OTTAWA— Veteran New Democrat Svend Robinson is staging a political comeback in his British Columbia hometown, where he will run in the riding next to where NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is vying for his first federal seat.
Robinson, a contender in the1995 NDP leadership race and Vancouver-area MP from 1979 to 2004, announced Tuesday that he plans to run for the party in Burnaby North—Seymour, home to the terminus of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline. As the only person vying for the nomination, Robinson is expected to be acclaimed as the NDP’s candidate there on Saturday.
The riding is currently held by Liberal MP Terry Beech.
Speaking to reporters outside his boyhood home in the riding, the 66-year-old said he is compelled to return to the political arena by “two huge crises” — climate change and expensive housing. He called for “radical changes” to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and a “massive program” to build affordable housing for people who have been priced out of areas where they grew up.
“I feel a huge sense of urgency about what’s happening,” Robinson told the Star. “My experience, and it was a pretty long and solid parliamentary career, hopefully that can help to contribute to the next (NDP) caucus.”
It is not the first time Robinson has attempted a return to the House of Commons. In 2006, he failed to unseat Liberal Hedy Fry in Vancouver Centre, losing to the incumbent MP by almost 9,000 votes. Two years earlier, Robinson resigned from Parliament and admitted he stole a diamond ring worth $64,000 from an auction. At the time, Robinson said he suffered from a mental health disorder and received a conditional discharge after he pleaded guilty in court to theft over $5,000.
On Tuesday, Robinson called the episode a “terrible mistake” and asked voters to judge him on his record of public service — including work he did over the past decade in Switzerland with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
“That is who Svend Robinson is,” he said.
Robinson is returning to politics as eight NDP MPs from the current Parliament have either resigned or announced they won’t run in the next campaign since Singh became party leader in 2017.
Robinson said it is “frustrating” that Singh has not been able to spar with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons, and that he believes the NDP can generate momentum ahead of the general election if Singh wins a seat in the byelection set for Feb. 25.
“It’s a rough patch now, there’s no question about that,” Robinson said, “but I’m confident he can turn things around.”
A new poll by Mainstreet Research Tuesday suggested Singh is leading among decided voters. The automated telephone poll of 740 people in the riding from Jan. 8 to10 found 39 per cent of decided and leaning voters support the NDP leader.
That’s compared with roughly 26 per cent for Liberal candidate Karen Wang, 22 per cent for Conservative Jay Shin, and 9 per cent for People’s Party candidate Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson.
The margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.