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SVEND ROBINSON STAGING HIS COMEBACK

No one really expected former NDP MP, Svend Robinson, to remain out of the public eye for long. He loves it too much.

He had staged a tearful farewell to politics, last April, after admitting he stole a $64,500.00 engagement ring for his boyfriend. For this crime he was given a conditional discharge.

This discharge means that he has no criminal record against him, which frees him to return to Parliament.

Mr. Robinson is now carefully staging his political comeback. He appeared in Toronto on February 9, 2005, at a town hall meeting at the St. Lawrence Centre to speak in support of physician supported suicide. He was a part of the Sue Rodriguez pro-death team that ended in her mysterious death in 1994. Ms Rodriguez had Lou Gehrigs disease and could not have ended her life herself. Mr. Robinson claimed it was an unnamed physician who ended her life. No charges were laid against him in connection with the death of Ms Rodriguez.

On February 8, 2005 Mr. Robinson made the headlines in connection with the sentencing of a 23 year old man found guilty of manslaughter in the death of homosexual, Aaron Webster, killed on November 17, 2001, in Vancouver's Stanley Park. Webster's body was found in an area in the park widely known as a stroll for gay men looking for casual sex. He was found naked, except for his boots. Neither the Crown Prosecutor nor the Judge, Mary Humphries, found any evidence that this crime was a "hate crime" against a homosexual or a gay bashing. Mr. Robinson was incensed. He had used the murder of Aaron Webster as the centrepiece for his private members Bill C-250 which provides for special protection for homosexuals under the hate crime provisions in the Criminal Code. Homosexuals had staged a rally immediately following Mr. Webster's murder, claiming it was a hate crime and demanding hate crime protection under the Criminal Code.

During the debate on his controversial bill, Mr. Robinson was hard put to find actual examples of gay bashing in Canada and, instead, had to rely mainly on a few dubious American examples. The Aaron Webster case, however, did give him reason to exploit the "need" for Bill C-250. Now, even this has been taken away from him. The accused and two co-defendants, in the Webster murder case, had, apparently gone to Stanley Park to beat up "Peeping Toms", not homosexuals. Also, a young Korean exchange student had been assaulted by unknown assailants in the park a few months after Mr. Webster's murder, indicating that the assaults in the park were not necessarily "hate crimes" directed against homosexuals. In effect, there simply was no evidence to suggest that Mr. Webster's sexuality played any role in his killing.

Mr. Robinson, however, loudly and publicly denounced the sentence of six years for the accused, claiming it was insufficient. He stated, "This is a sad day for justice in British Columbia… Six years for the brutal gay bashing of Aaron Webster is an outrage. What message does that send about the value of the lives of gay people"? He then called upon B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant to review the Crown's conduct in the case. Attorney General, Mr. Plant was not impressed. He replied that there was no need for him to review the case, as "there was no evidence to support a charge of gay bashing". So much for Mr. Robinson's argument that Canada "needed" Bill C-250 in order to protect homosexuals from hate crimes. Unfortunately, this conclusion of Aaron Webster's murder, came too late to stop the bill from steam rolling through Parliament, backed by the Liberal Government. It received Royal Ascent on April 29, 2004.

Mr. Robinson's next foray into public view was a media interview on, naturally, the CBC, on Sunday, February 13, 2005. In the interview, Mr. Robinson stated he had battled his "demons" and was pondering his comeback. He stated, ""Hopefully there's a lot of good and a lot of strength and some wisdom that I can bring to public discourse and public life that people would say, "I'm a human being, I've made mistakes. He made a mistake but we respect that he took responsibility for that and he's moving on.""

Expect to hear more from Mr. Robinson. According to the Globe and Mail (February 15, 2005), Mr. Robinson indicated he would not be running in his old Burnaby B.C. riding, now held by his former legislative assistant and fellow homosexual NDP MP Bill Siksay.

Watch for Mr. Robinson's political resurgence in a public place near you.

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