Robbins homing in on supporters

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This article was published 22/08/2025 (216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SPRUCEWOODS — Spruce Woods Progressive Conservative candidate Colleen Robbins is out door-knocking at homes of party supporters in hopes of getting them out to vote in next week’s byelection.

Robbins and a volunteer knocked on doors around Sprucewoods on Friday afternoon, bracing the chilly and rainy weather.

“I’m feeling really positive right now,” she said outside a home on Duroc Cove. “We’ve got the support there, but now we’ve got to make sure they get out and vote, because if they don’t vote, their support isn’t there.”

Robbins, 61, said she’s going to continue over the next four days to ensure supporters turn up at the polls.

The Sun tagged along with Robbins for just under an hour, and during that time Robbins knocked on four doors. There was no answer at two of the homes, and two had PC supporters open the door.

Robbins said she, along with volunteers, use an app to remember who party supporters are, which helps them focus on certain houses.

“What we do is we identify who our voter is,” she said. “So once we identify (supporters), we will watch for them to see that they voted. And then if they have, then absolutely wonderful. If not, then on election day we will be calling them to make sure they get out and vote.”

Robbins spent about 30 minutes in one man’s home after he invited her in for a chat.

“I hope (Robbins wins), we need a good representative, and I don’t think Kinew is going to represent us very good,” said James Crang, 93. “I think we still need a Conservative government in Manitoba.”

Crang and Robbins spoke about things like highways, how the government currently operates and their personal lives in the home’s warm living room.

“You pretty near got a guaranteed vote for me, and my younger son,” Crang told Robbins.

Crang asked for a sign in his front yard, which the party volunteer happily hammered into the ground after leaving the home.

Robbins said she wished different questions could have been asked at Wednesday’s debate, mainly relating to infrastructure.

“I don’t think I lost the debate,” she said when asked how she thinks she did. “I knew my facts at the debate on everything that was brought up.”

She said social issues, which took up a lengthy part of the debate, are hard to answer because everyone has different opinions.

“Those are controversial subjects that you’re never going to get 100 per cent of the voters on that.”

Robbins again apologized about comments she made about residential schools on Twitter in 2021.

At the time, she wrote: “I don’t believe for once that any human ever started the residential school to abuse children. I agree it was what they thought at the time to help the Indigenous, which didn’t happen.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said Robbins “is great” and that it’s good to see that she’s working hard and putting herself out there. He said he’s also had a lot of fun getting out in the riding.

“It’s been great. People are really happy to see us out there. Really happy to see and engage with Colleen and myself and other MLAs,” Khan said. “It is a new era for the PC party, it’s a new energy, it’s a new vision and it’s going really well.”

Khan said Robbins apologizing for comments she’s made in the past shows that she’s recognizing her mistakes.

“She’s committed to learning and growing, and we should want that from every elected official and every Manitoban. No one is perfect, people are going to make mistakes,” Khan said.

“I love the humility in her to recognize that, to acknowledge it, to apologize and commit to work, to getting better.”

Khan compared it to NDP Premier Wab Kinew, who had at one point been charged with assault, which was later stayed. Kinew apologized for his actions years before he became premier.

“That trait in an elected official to do that, I think, is something that we would want in all of our officials.”

» alambert@brandonsun.com