Robinson running for NDP

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This article was published 25/03/2025 (206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal NDP has named Quentin Robinson as the party’s candidate for Brandon-Souris in this spring’s election.

Robinson ran for the provincial NDP in Brandon West during the 2023 Manitoba election, losing by less than 100 votes to Progressive Conservative candidate Wayne Balcaen, a former Brandon police chief.

Robinson, one of three candidates in the riding confirmed to the Sun as of Monday, is a Brandon resident who has spent the past 30 years in central and western Manitoba. His work includes being a church minister and a marriage and family therapist.

In an interview with the Sun on Monday, Robinson said he is returning to represent the NDP as he identifies with the party based on the philosophy he picked up through working with churches.

“My draw to the NDP was kind of rooted in the things that I’ve learned within my faith community,” said Robinson. “The big commandment that I learned is a really common one in just about every faith tradition, ‘Love your neighbour.’”

Robinson said the NDP is the strongest champion of this philosophy. He said he began to see these beliefs crop up strongest within NDP policies, such as pushes for universal health care and a safety net for regular Canadians.

“The NDP understands that,” said Robinson. “The policies we would have in place and have pushed for, always, are about supporting everybody — the middle class, the working people, the people who are striving to work and striving to be middle class.”

If elected, Robinson said he would use his position to ensure that policymakers in Ottawa better understand what it is like to live in a rural area of Canada. He said he would help shift policy support toward the base of the economy rather than top earners, and he would emphasize the need to keep rural areas strong.

Robinson said the NDP distinguishes itself from other parties by its approach to the economy, which focuses on the working class, while the Conservatives and the Liberals both focus on corporate interests.

For the new Liberal leader, Mark Carney, he said, Canadians are likely to be a second thought.

“His career has been dealing with wealthy investors and corporate entities,” said Robinson. “That’s how he sees things. That’s his world.”

When it comes to local issues, Robinson pointed to depopulation in rural areas and said it’s a problem to take to Ottawa.

“When the rural area becomes depopulated, what happens is the land in the area becomes more vulnerable to be bought up by foreign investors, right?” said Robinson.

“Mark Carney made a point of connecting with the North and saying, ‘We have to claim this land here.’ Well, we also have to claim the farmland, and we also have to claim the small communities.”

An example he provided to support rural areas was ensuring accessibility to strong Internet connection.

Looking ahead, Robinson said he has a schedule of door knocking, interviews and events leading up to election day on April 28.

He said he is looking forward to meeting as many people as possible in Brandon-Souris.

“By voting for me, you are voting for a certain value system that I share with the party,” he said. “But it’s my value system, and I won’t fight for it because somebody else is telling me to. This is a heartfelt thing for me. When (people) vote for me, they’ll know that they’ll be taking my heart and soul to Ottawa to fight for the average working person and the person trying to get into the workforce.”

Robinson joins the race with Conservative candidate Grant Jackson and People’s Party of Canada candidate Jim Oliver. The federal Liberal and Green parties have yet to name candidates for the riding.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com