Volume 57 Number 32
Friday, August 11, 2017
Thompson, Manitoba
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Manitoba NDP leadership candidates rally supporters as delegate voting begins
Nickel Belt News photo by Kyle Darbyson Manitoba NDP leadership candidates Wab Kinew (left) and Steve Ashton (right) square off at a leadership forum in Thompson on July 24. BY KYLE DARBYSON KYLE@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
The 2017 NDP leadership race is heating up now that delegate selection voting is taking place Aug. 8–21. The delegates who are selected during this two week period will go on to choose the next leader of the Manitoba NDP at a convention in Winnipeg on Saturday, Sept. 16. While this is all going on, Manitoba NDP leadership hopefuls Steve Ashton and Wab Kinew are making moves to try and sway voters and prospective delegates. A day after delegate voting started Kinew made his presence known by reinforcing his commitment to eliminating barriers to post-secondary education. At an Aug. 9 press conference in Winnipeg, the 35-year-old Fort Rouge MLA promised to invest in a $4,500 tuition waiver for students who have aged out of the childwelfare system and a $6,300 wage subsidy to help graduates find jobs.
“Upstream costs, like post-secondary education, will prevent us from having to spend more down the line in the family services, health, and justice systems,” said Kinew. According to an Aug. 6 press release, Kinew was also successful in attracting a high profile endorsement from Ovide Mercredi, former national chief for the Assembly of First Nations and current president of the Manitoba NDP. “Now is the time for a dynamic, young, Indigenous leader like Wab in Manitoba,” said Mercredi in this press release. “Wab represents the future of our party and our province. I urge New Democrats to join me in uniting behind them.” Throughout his leadership campaign, Kinew has also been endorsed by the likes of NDP members such as Stephen Lewis, Nahanni Fontaine, Bernadette Smith, and Matt Wiebe. At the same time, Ashton has courted his
own group of political backers, including the party’s interim leader Flor Marcelino, MLA Jim Maloway, and, most recently, former deputy premier Eric Robinson. “Steve Ashton knows this province. I have no doubt he can win back support for the NDP in the north, plus rural and urban Manitoba,” said Robinson in an Aug. 9 press release. “He is the only candidate that has no learning curve. He will be ready to take Pallister on, day one.” Outside of garnering supporters, Ashton also decided to go on the offensive the day before delegate voting began. Echoing comments he made at a July 24 leadership forum in Thompson, Ashton directly challenged Kinew’s traditional NDP values in a Aug. 7 press release, referencing a 2015 interview with Maclean’s where the then musician and CBC broadcaster said, when it comes to fiscal issues, he would be “100 per cent open to Conservative platform.”
Ashton went on to state in this press release that the Manitoba NDP needs to embrace a unabashedly “bold progressive” candidate like himself if they want to defeat premier Brian Pallister and his Conservative Party in the next provincial election. Recently, Ashton tried to hammer this point home by unveiling his climate change platform on July 28. “I am proud to be a lifelong New Democrat,” said Ashton, who served as an MLA for the Thompson electoral district from 1981 to 2016. “I believe that our values and our principles have never been more relevant than today.” In order to be eligible to vote during the delegate selection process, you must be a member of the Manitoba NDP as of June 18, 2017. Eligible voters in the Thompson area can cast their ballot online. For more information on the voting process, please visit todayndp.ca/vote.