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NDP candidate promises strong voice for the riding in Parliament

Her experience working on important regional issues and willingness to be a strong voice for the riding were among the highlights of Niki Ashton’s speech to the Thompson Chamber of Commerce Sept. 30.
niki ashton head shot
Churchill MP Niki Ashton

Her experience working on important regional issues and willingness to be a strong voice for the riding were among the highlights of Niki Ashton’s speech to the Thompson Chamber of Commerce Sept. 30.

The NDP’s candidate for the Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding and two-term MP for the Churchill riding, Ashton said her roots in the region give her an understanding of its issues.

“I’m somewhat surprised that the candidates from the two other major parties don’t live in the north and are based in the city,” said Ashton. “My view as someone who’s proud to have been born and raised here in the north, to live here in the north, is that that’s a critical starting point.”

Ashton said her willingness to fight for her riding has enabled it to weather setbacks and proposed loss of services despite the fact that she doesn’t sit on the government side in the House of Commons.

“In the last few years one of the biggest challenges we faced as a community was the threat of closure of our smelter and refinery and it was actually in this year 2015 that we were going to lose those jobs,” Ashton said. “I raised this issue nationally and even worked to get international attention and I pointed out the degree to which the federal government was involved in putting our jobs in our community at risk. What was not reported was the degree to which many of us worked, yes, in front of the scenes but also behind the scenes to stand up and protect the jobs in our community. I want to give credit to that solution-oriented initiative, to the city, to the Steelworkers, to the local leadership here at Vale and to the provincial government, our MLA, for coming together and saying that our community needed to be protected. I worked behind the scenes with cabinet ministers at the time including Vic Toews, with whom we were able to negotiate an extension. That’s how we do things here in the north. We speak out when the time comes but we work together both in front and behind the scenes to find solutions.”

Ashton also said she was proud of fighting to save Thompson’s CBC station.

“I took the issue directly to parliament and to the CBC president and here in our community many of us worked together to make it clear that we deserve our pubic services and our public broadcaster here in the north and no matter where any Canadian lives,” she said. “We were able to save our radio station and we were able to make sure that our voices were on the map. The same battle continues to save Canada Post, a critical service for our communities. Here in Thompson we’re at threat of losing home delivery as is Flin Flon, but every single community including The Pas and other rural communities have been at threat of losing post office hours, including positions in their post offices.”

Ashton said the Liberals’ economic plan numbers don’t add up and that the riding knows from experience that electing a Liberal won’t necessarily be beneficial.

“We’ve had other MPs in the past, including Liberal Members of Parliament, including under Liberal governments, who haven’t spent much time in the riding and under whose governments the north actually has lost out when it comes to the federal government,” said Ashton.

Ashton also responded to questions from chamber members in attendance.

“To your direct question about a tax credit, I’d have to get back to you to ask my colleagues that deal with the tax credit question but we see a direct role for investment in terms of recreation and an important role for the federal government to help seniors live healthy lives and not to be struggling in poverty,” she said when asked if the recreational activity tax credit for children could be extended to senior citizens, who are now the larger of the two demographic groups.

She criticized past governments for policies that hurt the Port of Churchill.

“Under the Liberals the port was privatized which made for a more insecure time in terms of in maintenance and investment and it’s been a struggle to see the kind of commitments we need to see in terms of maintenance from the current owners of the port,” said Ashton. “Under the current government, the Conservative government, the elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board had a direct impact on the security of the Port of Churchill and we know that right off the bat it meant a drop in the secure customer base that the Port of Churchill has always had, the agricultural base, the shipping of grain through Churchill.”

With the port looking at a dismal shipping season of only about 200,000 tonnes of cargo this year, compared with 600,000 plus in the last few years, Ashton warned that the end of a subsidy for grain producers in 2017 could exacerbate the port’s problems.

Ashton said part of the NDP’s plan to address homelessness is rooted in its belief that housing is a right and its pledge to support that right by spending $2.7 billion on affordable housing overall with a commitment of building 10,000 affordable housing units.

Ashton told City of Thompson planner Matt Boscariol that the NDP will reach out to younger Canadians to engage them in the political process.

“I know we’re connected on Twitter, Matt, and with a number of folks here in this room I’m connected on Facebook or connected through somebody else on Facebook so we share a lot of the work that we do, whether it’s questions in Parliament or the visits in Tadoule Lake, all of that needs to be communicated and shared and discussed,” she said. “I think that’s the way we engage young folks not just in this election but in a democratic discussion about the future of our communities and our country.”

In addition to calling a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women within 100 days of being elected, an NDP government would also commit to a national action plan to end violence against women, said Ashton.

And while the candidate is hopeful that this election will make history with the NDP being elected as the federal government for the first time, she said the party will work with others in Parliament regardless.

“The NDP actually is doing extremely well in parts of the country that have many seats,” Ashton said. “In places like Quebec and B.C. and in other parts of the country we’re having a very strong showing.”

“All of us in the NDP signed a coalition agreement a few years ago based on a specific agenda so not just a broad coalition for the sake of coalition but one that actually has a work plan attached to it,” Ashton said. “We’ve been very open to that. I know other players have not and rebuffed that option.”

Ashton also pointed out that the NDP is committed to investing in infrastructure and employment.

“We’ve committed to an investment to help build and repair roads and bridges with an additional $1.5 billion annually over the next four years and by the end of the NDP’s first mandate we’ve committed to creating 54,000 good jobs in construction, manufacturing and transit operation across the country.”

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