Robert Crooks

About Robert Crooks

When were you born?

Between 1981 and 1996 (Millennial)

Tell our readers a bit about your professional life. What do you do for a living? If you're an incumbent candidate, what did you do before you entered politics?

I am currently a Development Coordinator for a community arts non-profit based in Point Douglas. My day-to-day duties mostly consist in writing grants and reports, and assisting with policy development. As a practicing artist myself, I enjoy my job because it allows me to work in the arts while contributing (albeit, in a small way) to the goal of eliminating inequality in the arts.

However, like all jobs, it has its frustrating side as well. Like most community nonprofits, the programs we seek to offer should be universally available, and yet are dependent on funding that is insufficient, limiting and precarious. Our organization facilitates programming for youth of communities that are some of the most deeply impacted by colonialism and capitalism in Canada. We often encounter youth and families who are struggling to meet their most basic needs, such as secure housing, consistent and nutritional meals, quality education and comprehensive healthcare. It is both heartbreaking and enraging to feel powerless in the face of these injustices suffered by members of our community.

What's the highest level of education you've attained?

Master's degree

How long have you lived in the constituency? If you don't currently live there, what led you to run there instead of where you live?

I have lived in Osborne Village since 2018.

What is the biggest challenge facing your constituency, and how would you address it?

I think that the biggest challenge facing Fort Rouge is the same as the biggest challenge currently facing our entire province, and Canada as a whole: housing. We have become so accustomed to people being unhoused that we act as though it were a natural phenomenon, when it is, in fact, the result of a false scarcity created to enrich capitalists at the expense of the rest of us. Housing is a human right, and yet it is treated as a commodity. This has gone so far that, what has been a constant crisis for the most oppressed people in our country, is now being felt by almost every strata of society.

Governments and politicians of all stripes keep us thinking that this crisis can only be addressed by incentivizing landlords and developers, a strategy that has done little so far but to transfer public monies to private corporations. But the best way to solve the housing crisis is to take action towards decommodification by creating rent-geared-to-income housing, and normalizing and expanding social housing in general. Homes should be built for people to live in, not for people to enrich themselves.

There are multiple avenues through which social housing could be funded, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll stick to two.

First, I would redirect provincial funds earmarked for police towards housing. Although I do not believe that the complete abolition of police is possible in a class society, it is clear that the police have become too powerful a lobbying force and are commandeering far beyond their share of public wealth to fund exorbitant salaries and to pay for unnecessary toys such as a helicopter and an armoured vehicle. We must understand that, while police have a role to play under our current conditions, creating access to housing, social services, public sector jobs, healthcare, and education, are much more effective ways to prevent crime than increased policing.

Secondly, I would reduce the six-figure salaries of MLAs to minimum wage. Not only would this free up funding for housing, but it would also deter unprincipled individuals from seeking public office, while promoting the need for a liveable minimum wage.

If elected, what will be your first priority?

If elected, my first priority would be to build relationships with other progressive MLAs, to seek agreement and to fight for common goals. Nothing positive can be accomplished without cooperation. In the Communist Party of Canada, we have our own political understanding, but we are not sectarian. We seek to work with and struggle alongside others who share our ideals with regards to basic human rights, such as housing, healthcare and education.

That being said, I would continue to work in the grass roots, organizing alongside people in our community. We can never forget that the people have the power to enact real change. When we are united, we are much stronger than government.

Who are your role models in politics, and why?

My biggest role model in politics is Fidel Castro. I understand that he is a controversial figure, due largely to his expropriation of land and factories after the Cuban Revolution. However, what I admire him most for is the fact that the revolution he led brought education and healthcare to the poorest people of Cuba, and lifted them out of the poverty that was forced on them by centuries of colonialism. Even under the suffocating six decade long illegal U.S. blockade, Cuba continues to excel in the fields of medicine and education, prioritizing the basic needs of its people.

I also deeply admire the leader of the Communist Party of Canada, Elizabeth Rowley. Over her lifetime, she has fought many intense battles, refusing to back down under threats and intimidation by some of the most reactionary and far-right forces that Canada has to offer. She has given her life to struggle for a world that is more just and equitable.

Tell us something about yourself that voters might find surprising.

People are sometimes surprised to learn that there are communists in their communities. While campaigning, we’ve seen all sorts of reactions, to excitement and gratitude to bewilderment and anger. The latter set of reactions, I think, has mainly to do with a misconception of what we stand for as communists.

As Marxists, we have our own language that can seem esoteric or even Orwellian by those who are unfamiliar with the jargon. But if I were to sum up what I believe in as a communist in the simplest possible terms, I would say that we stand for democratic control of the economy.

Our criticism of capitalist democracy is that it does not address the fundamental issue of private property. We are not against people owning their own toothbrushes, or their own cars, or their own homes. These forms of personal property are not what communists are against. Rather, it’s the private ownership of the banks, natural resources, agricultural industry, medicine and all the other large-scale corporations that control so much of our lives. Even the most well-meaning politician has very little power to make changes that would improve people’s lives if it conflicts with the interests of capital.

Democracy must be more than the chance to choose between a handful of candidates every few years. If the people have no say in what is produced and how it is distributed, in the conditions of our work lives, and in how the wealth produced from our labour and the natural environment is spent, how can we say that the people actually rule the country? The first step towards democratic control of the economy would be to nationalize the banks and the largest industries, so that they can be brought under civilian control to meet the needs of people, not profit.

In short, what some people may be surprised by is that, as a communist, I stand for more democracy, not less.

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