Doer to receive Duff Roblin Award

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This article was published 21/06/2024 (527 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gary Doer, the former Manitoba premier and ambassador to the United States, will receive the Duff Roblin Award this fall.

The University of Winnipeg Foundation made the announcement Friday.

Doer will be honoured at a ceremony at the 16th annual award dinner at the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre on Nov. 7. Past award winners include philanthropist Gail Asper, former foreign affairs minister and U of W president Lloyd Axworthy, and Qualico’s Ruth Hastings.

“I am both honoured and humbled,” said Doer on Friday.

“It’s a real honour and it’s so wonderful because I received advice from him (Roblin).”

Doer was premier from 1999 to 2009, leading the New Democratic Party to three consecutive majority governments. He was ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2016.

Doer said when the province was negotiating with the federal government to expand the capacity of the Red River Floodway that protects Winnipeg from flooding — and is known popularly as “Duff’s Ditch” — he set up a meeting between Roblin and then-prime minister Stephen Harper at the floodway gates in St. Norbert in April 2006.

Roblin, who was premier from 1958 to 1967, ordered the 47-kilometre floodway to be constructed following the massively destructive 1950 flood that inundated the city. It opened in 1968.

Doer told a story about how Harper was convinced to contribute to the expansion project.

“Harper came out and we went to Morris,” Doer said. The town, which is south of Winnipeg and is next to the Red River, is protected by a dike, but the farmland that surrounds it is swamped by water during a flood year.

“We get there and it looks like the Red Sea leading to North Dakota. We talked to many emergency figures and then a young boy walks up to the prime minister, who says “Hi, son, what’s your name?” and the kid says his name is Noah. The prime minister turns to me and says, “You’ve brought Noah and Duff Roblin? You’ll do anything to get a deal”.”

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Broadcaster Scott Oake, who is award dinner chair, said in a news release: “We are incredibly proud to recognize such a respected and accomplished Manitoban.

“Mr. Doer’s career as a politician, his success as Canada’s ambassador to the United States and his support of our (U of W) community are reasons why he is truly deserving of this distinction.”

The Duff Roblin Award, first given out in 2007, honours a community leader who supports the U of W and whose career, volunteerism or philanthropy has made a significant impact on education in Manitoba.

The first recipient was Roblin himself.

Kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.