Green Party candidate David Robinson’s third election didn’t go the way he hoped, but he said tonight’s results were expected.
“I mean, to be very honest, although members of this team thought that we could win this time, I didn't think we could,” he told Sudbury.com. “Not coming from four-and-a-half per cent. So I'm not really disappointed.
“I am just shocked at the foolishness of Ontario voters who literally have put us four years closer to disaster.”
Robinson was at home on election night on a Zoom call with other Green Party members and supporters. Robinson told Sudbury.com in a phone interview that not only are Ontario voters foolish, but Sudbury voters are, too.“I am shocked at the foolishness of at least a lot of Sudbury voters who've picked the candidate who doesn't have a clue about the issue that is most important to Ontario and the whole world,“ Robinson said, referring to climate change.
Robinson also ran as the Ontario Green Party candidate for the Sudbury riding in 2015 and 2018, placing fifth and fourth respectively, securing around four per cent of the vote.
“I first ran in this constituency in 2015. At that point, I was simply showing the flag and educating,” he said. “At this point, we're starting to get professional as a campaign team. We have done a better job of raising money. We understand how to do it a lot more and this is no longer an amateur trophy. It's just a small one, [but] it’s a big difference.”
He said he feels happy with how the campaign period went for the Greens this year, despite his disappointment.
“We're actually terrifically happy with the performance that we put in as a team. We've run a better campaign than we ever have,” Robinson said.
“We had more people, more money, better advertising. And they're telling me that as a candidate, I was better than we've had before.”
Despite being excited about running in this year’s election, Robinson does not intend on running again. He said he would like to focus on his family – and his dog – but he could be convinced otherwise.
“I'm not, at this point, planning to run again,” Robinson said. “I'm planning to continue to work with the Green Party. Our goal is to increase the number of young people in this party and try to set it up for the next election. Now, because a couple of the young people seem to think that I am important, there's talk about me running again. I'm not sure what my wife thinks about that, let alone my dog. So we have to wait and see what happens there.”
Robinson campaigned against Jamie West (NDP), who held onto the riding, Liberal David Farrow (who came third), PC Marc Despatie (who came second with about 30 per cent of the vote), Sheldon Pressey for the New Blue Party, Libertarian candidate Adrien Berthier, Ontario Party candidate Jason LaFace and independant candidate David J. Popescu.