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Issue 44
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY FOR 113 YEARS
www.estevanmercury.ca
Wed., Mar. 16, 2016 Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Robock dropped by the NDP By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Cameron Robock will be a candidate in the Estevan constituency in the upcoming provincial election, but it won’t be for the New Democratic Party (NDP). NDP Leader Cam Broten announced at a press conference on March 12 the party was removing Robock from its candidate slate, stemming from comments made by Robock on social media. It was the latest development involving the party and social media. Four candidates and the NDP’s campaign manager, Frank Quennell, have resigned from the campaign or have been forced out by the party since the provincial election campaign began on March 8. In an interview with the Mercury on March 14, Robock said he doesn’t know which social media posts resulted in his ouster, and the party didn’t indicate which posts they found troublesome. His Facebook account was deleted as of Saturday afternoon. He was told about five minutes before Broten’s press conference that he would no longer be their
candidate in Estevan. He was surprised with the NDP’s decision, but he had already been speaking with them about running as an independent. Once he was informed that he wouldn’t be representing the NDP, Robock said he spoke with his wife, and they decided within an hour that he should run as an independent. “I finish what I start,” said Robock. “I had people that are backing me, and a lot of people are still backing me. I can bring awareness to issues, like water quality and twinning the highway. “If you’re running in a race, and all of a sudden you trip on your feet, you don’t just walk off to the sideline, you dust yourself off and continue. You finish the race.” People have brought forward a lot of concerns in recent weeks. Not only are they troubled with the slow progress to twin Highway 39, but they also have issues with water quality and the state of other highways, particularly Highway 18 west of Estevan. Other people are concerned with the Lean program in health care, the problems with smart metres
Cameron Robock, right, is pictured with former NDP provincial election campaign manager Frank Quennell, left, and Robock’s campaign manager, Tom O’Sullivan, after Robock won the NDP’s nomination for the Estevan constituency last year. Both Robock and Quennell have been removed from the campaign by the party following a social media controversy last week. File photo. installed by SaskPower, and the cost overruns associated with the Regina bypass. “We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars thrown out the door,” said Robock. “Now we’re talking about P3s (privatepublic partnerships) coming in, and the majority of the work is not actually going to be done by the people in Saskatchewan. That’s a big problem, especially right now when we could use the extra jobs.”
Some members of his campaign team, including his campaign manager, campaign secretary and business manager, will shift over to his effort as an independent. The business manager was the only one with ties to the party. There are local party members who backed him when he was the NDP candidate who can no longer be part of his campaign. “I have other volunteers who help me door-
knock who are not members, and have never been members,” said Robock. “They’ve already recommitted. People who respect what I have to say are going to be helping.” Robock said he supports Broten, the party and their decision to block him from running for the party. But he still feels the need to run as an independent. Robock was elected by acclamation as the local NDP candidate in February
2015. He has since been campaigning to become Estevan’s next MLA, attending community events and participating in other activities. The social media issues for the NDP started last week when the Saskatchewan Party revealed that Saskatoon-Northwest candidate Clayton Wilson was found to have repeatedly insulted farmers on social media a few years ago. Six ⇢ A2
NDP finds a new Forum lineup change candidate for Estevan The New Democratic Party’s (NDP) candidate in the Estevan constituency isn’t from the riding, but that won’t stop her from being committed to the campaign. The NDP has announced that Regina’s Tina Vuckovic would be their candidate, replacing Cameron Robock, who was removed by the party because Robock made comments on social media the party felt were inappropriate. Vuckovic has taken a leave of absence from her employer, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, where she is a procurement specialist, enabling her to focus on the campaign. She planned to be in the Estevan constituency for the first time on March 15. “I plan on hitting the ground running,
and hearing some of the concerns first hand and seeing what we can do for the folks out there,” Vuckovic told the Mercury. Among the first events she expects to participate in is the candidates’ forum hosted by the Estevan Chamber of Commerce on March 17 at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall. She doesn’t have any legitimate connections to the Estevan area, other than some co-workers from the riding. But she doesn’t expect her status as a parachute candidate to be a hindrance. The late start will be a challenge, but it’s one she expects to overcome. “I would like to believe that I will have the opportunity to knock on every door in Health ⇢ A2
Paul Carroll, the PC candidate in the upcoming provincial election on April 4 said on Monday that Cameron Robock’s departure from the scene as the local consituency’s NDP candidate might be chalked up as “an unfortunate experience for him. We all can learn a lesson regarding social media. When you post it, it’s there for the rest of your life.” Carroll said he understood how something like that could happen, especially if the evidence was culled from online messages sent some time
ago.
Carroll said he had heard rumblings that the Thursday night candidate forum was threatened since it promised to be a two-person race, but with Robock deciding to remain in the race as an independent candidate, that would make it a threeperson candidate’s night again. It has since been learned the NDP’s replacement candidate, Tina Vuckovic, expect to be in attendance and ready to debate the local constituency issues. The Liberals and Green Party will be run-
ning phantom (no show) candidates in the local constituency. The Green Party will be represented by Branden Schick, the Liberals by Oscar Karkabatov. Monday afternoon, it was established that neither Schick or Karkabatov had any intention of visiting the local constituency. The active candidates in the local riding are now Lori Carr, for the Sask. Party, Carroll for the Progressive Conservatives, Robock, now running as an independent and parachute NDP candidate Vuckovic.
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