NDP Candidate for Brandon-Souris, Quentin Robinson, has been sharing his thoughts on the state of Canada's political landscape and how that relates to his constituents in the Westman Region with area residents and business owners over the past few weeks.
Robinson says it's a bit of a challenge to identify the top issues, mostly because it depends on where you're located as a business owner, farmer or resident of town or city.
"If you're located in downtown Brandon, and actually for lots of folks throughout the city, then the big features of this election are about affordability," shares Robinson. "Food prices, housing prices and the scarcity of housing, those continue to be big issues. So, you end up with people spending so much on food and housing that they may not be able to afford the medication that they are prescribed."
"Those are a few of the big ones, just in general that predate what's happening with the Donald Trump and the tariffs and all that complete madness that's going on at the wider level," he adds.
"But if you're living in the countryside, which is where I grew up. I was a farmer in my first career and lived in rural communities all my life until the last nine years in which I live in Brandon. Then, the issues are different."
Robinson says some of those issues are the same, however in smaller communities folks are struggling to pay for food and find accommodations or housing.
"But there are also the issues of communities losing resources and losing businesses. Maintaining infrastructure is hard in the small towns, which tend to have less resources because of smaller populations."
"And then on the farm, the tariffs are just huge," says Robinson.
"We got pork producers that are hit with a double whammy of tariffs from China and from the United States," he explains. "You have oil seed producers facing a massive tariff and just grain products in general. Then there are so many products that are being affected by beef tariffs. A cattleman was just telling me a couple of days ago that it tends to be that feeder cattle flow across the border into Canada and then finished cattle tend to flow back across the border in the United States. And so that whole pattern is thrown up in the air with the tariffs, so. That's really huge."
Robinson's early days were in South Central Ontario, where he farmed for 10 years. Answering the call to ministry in the United Church he moved to Manitoba where he was ordained 30 years ago. "Half my life has been here, and it sure feels like home at this point," he adds.
While practicing ministry, Robinson developed a keen interest in helping families navigate relationship struggles. He trained as a marriage and family therapist at the University of Winnipeg and combined that with his ministry practice.
"For 30 years, I've been able to support people through challenging moments in their lives, both through ministry and counseling. This experience has given me a real appreciation for the different challenges people face and a strong desire to help and with the ability to help."
Please listen to more with Quentin Robinson below as he shares on pharma-care, home affordability and more of the important issues in the upcoming election.
A Candidates Debate will be held Wednesday, April 23 at the Brandon University Evan's Theatre from 7-9 pm. The public is encouraged to attend.