VANCOUVER — Former MP Svend Robinson will be the New Democrat candidate for Burnaby North-Seymour in the federal election this fall.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is running in the Burnaby South riding, made the announcement official on Saturday, just days after Robinson said he expected to be acclaimed.
The 66-year-old Robinson said he was returning to public life for two fundamental reasons: climate change and the affordable housing crisis.
Robinson served as MP in Vancouver and Burnaby from 1979 until 2004, when his political career came crashing down after he admitted to stealing a valuable ring from an auction house a few months before the federal election. He turned himself in to the RCMP, was charged with theft and pleaded guilty. He was given a discharge and has no criminal record.
At the time of the offence, Robinson was deemed to have been suffering from mental illness, which he explained was caused by severe stress.
Since then he has spent time in Switzerland working with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. After retiring last year, Robinson and his partner moved to Cyprus.
He attempted a comeback in the 2006 federal election when he ran for the NDP against Liberal Hedy Fry in the Vancouver Centre riding. He was defeated.
Liberal Terry Beech is running again in Burnaby North-Seymour, which is set to become a battleground riding next year over Liberal pledges to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline. The pipeline ends in the riding.
Singh also announced Saturday that Don Davies, MP for Vancouver Kingsway since 2008 and NDP health critic since 2015, will run for his seat again. Former CTV news anchor Tamara Taggart will seek the Liberal nomination in that riding.
The federal election is set for Oct. 21.
— With files from The Canadian Press
