Niki Ashton
Encyclopedia
Niki Christina Ashton is the New Democratic
Member of Parliament
for the electoral district of Churchill
in Manitoba
, Canada
. She was first elected in the 2008 federal election
.
A resident of Thompson, Manitoba
, she is the daughter of Manitoba provincial NDP cabinet minister Steve Ashton
. She has been an instructor at the University College of the North
.
of Hong Kong. She has a B.A in Global Political Economy from the University of Manitoba
, and a M.A in International Affairs from Carleton University.
Later, she was a coordinator and promoter of volunteering at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. At the event, she assisted the Chinese team.
She has studied human rights
in Canada and was awarded the Ahmed Ali Hashi Human Rights Scholarship for her work.
She speaks Greek, French, English and Spanish. She has studied Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish, and is currently learning Cree.
Ashton married Ryan Barker in August 2011 in Alexandroupoli, Greece, her mother's hometown.
Member of Parliament
Bev Desjarlais
for the NDP nomination due, in part, to the same-sex marriage
issue after Desjarlais broke party ranks to vote against the Civil Marriage Act
. Desjarlais subsequently quit the party and sat as an independent for the remainder of her term; she ran against Ashton as an independent candidate in the election in Churchill in the 2006 Canadian federal election
. Some of Ashton's major themes in her campaign were getting federal funding for the University College of the North, as well as getting a federal government northern development agreement.
Although the labour unions in Thompson endorsed Ashton, the NDP vote nevertheless split between Ashton and Desjarlais, and the riding was won by Liberal Party
candidate Tina Keeper
.
Ashton defeated Keeper in the 2008 election
to regain the riding for the NDP.
In 2011 Ashton received the support of American documentary film maker Michael Moore
in her fight to prevent the closing of Brazilian mining company Vale's smelter and refinery in Thompson, Manitoba
. Vale, which owned the refinery after it took over Canadian company Inco, had earlier received a $1 billion unsecured loan from the Harper Government
and under the Investment Canada Act
signed a contractual agreement with the federal government. A media investigation found that Vale broke this agreement but as of May 2011 the government has yet to file punitive action against Vale.
On November 7, 2011, in Montreal, Niki Ashton launched her campaign as the ninth person to join the NDP leadership race
.
|align="left" colspan=2|NDP
gain from Liberal
|align="right"|Swing
|align="right"|
|align="right"|
|- bgcolor="white"
|align="left" colspan=2|Liberal
gain from NDP
|align="right"|Swing
|align="right"|+8.7
|align="right"|
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
Member of Parliament
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
for the electoral district of Churchill
Churchill (electoral district)
Churchill is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1935. It covers northern Manitoba, a vast wilderness area dotted with small municipalities and First Nations reserves...
in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. She was first elected in the 2008 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
.
A resident of Thompson, Manitoba
Thompson, Manitoba
Thompson is a city in northern Manitoba. As the "Hub of the North" it serves as the regional trade and service centre of northern Manitoba. Thompson is located north of the Canada – United States border, north of the provincial capital of Winnipeg, and is northeast of Flin Flon...
, she is the daughter of Manitoba provincial NDP cabinet minister Steve Ashton
Steve Ashton
Steve Ashton is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He is a long-serving member of the Manitoba legislature, and is currently a cabinet minister in the New Democratic Party government of Greg Selinger....
. She has been an instructor at the University College of the North
University College of the North
University College of the North is a post-secondary institution located in Northern Manitoba, Canada.UCN has a student body of approximately 2,700 annually, and a staff of approximately 400...
.
Personal life
Ashton was born in Thompson and attended École Riverside School and R.D. Parker Collegiate high school. She later attended the Li Po Chun United World CollegeLi Po Chun United World College
Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong , established in 1992, is a sixth-form college in Hong Kong. It is a member of the United World Colleges....
of Hong Kong. She has a B.A in Global Political Economy from the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
, and a M.A in International Affairs from Carleton University.
Later, she was a coordinator and promoter of volunteering at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. At the event, she assisted the Chinese team.
She has studied human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
in Canada and was awarded the Ahmed Ali Hashi Human Rights Scholarship for her work.
She speaks Greek, French, English and Spanish. She has studied Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish, and is currently learning Cree.
Ashton married Ryan Barker in August 2011 in Alexandroupoli, Greece, her mother's hometown.
Career
In 2005, she defeated incumbent New Democratic PartyNew Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Bev Desjarlais
Bev Desjarlais
Bev Desjarlais is a retired Canadian politician. She represented Churchill in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2006, initially as a New Democrat and later as an Independent after losing her party nomination in late 2005...
for the NDP nomination due, in part, to the same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
issue after Desjarlais broke party ranks to vote against the Civil Marriage Act
Civil Marriage Act
The Civil Marriage Act was legislation legalizing same-sex marriage across Canada...
. Desjarlais subsequently quit the party and sat as an independent for the remainder of her term; she ran against Ashton as an independent candidate in the election in Churchill in the 2006 Canadian federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
. Some of Ashton's major themes in her campaign were getting federal funding for the University College of the North, as well as getting a federal government northern development agreement.
Although the labour unions in Thompson endorsed Ashton, the NDP vote nevertheless split between Ashton and Desjarlais, and the riding was won by Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
candidate Tina Keeper
Tina Keeper
Tina Keeper, OM , is a Cree activist, producer, former actress and former member of the Canadian House of Commons.Keeper is best known for her role as RCMP officer Michelle Kenidi in the CBC Television series North of 60, about the fictional aboriginal community of Lynx River. She also hosted a...
.
Ashton defeated Keeper in the 2008 election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
to regain the riding for the NDP.
In 2011 Ashton received the support of American documentary film maker Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
in her fight to prevent the closing of Brazilian mining company Vale's smelter and refinery in Thompson, Manitoba
Thompson, Manitoba
Thompson is a city in northern Manitoba. As the "Hub of the North" it serves as the regional trade and service centre of northern Manitoba. Thompson is located north of the Canada – United States border, north of the provincial capital of Winnipeg, and is northeast of Flin Flon...
. Vale, which owned the refinery after it took over Canadian company Inco, had earlier received a $1 billion unsecured loan from the Harper Government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
and under the Investment Canada Act
Investment Canada Act
The Investment Canada Act is a Canadian Federal law governing large foreign direct investment in Canada. The ICA was one of the first acts of Brian Mulroney's newly elected Progressive Conservative government, receiving royal assent on June 20, 1985...
signed a contractual agreement with the federal government. A media investigation found that Vale broke this agreement but as of May 2011 the government has yet to file punitive action against Vale.
On November 7, 2011, in Montreal, Niki Ashton launched her campaign as the ninth person to join the NDP leadership race
New Democratic Party leadership election, 2012
An election for the leadership of the New Democratic Party , a social democratic party in Canada, will occur on March 24, 2012, as a result of the death of Jack Layton, the party's former leader. The party's executive and caucus set the rules for the campaign at a series of meetings in September 2011...
.
Electoral record
|- bgcolor="white"|align="left" colspan=2|NDP
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
gain from Liberal
|align="right"|Swing
|align="right"|
|align="right"|
|- bgcolor="white"
|align="left" colspan=2|Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
gain from NDP
|align="right"|Swing
|align="right"|+8.7
|align="right"|