- Niki Ashton
-
Niki Ashton
MP, BA, MAMember of the Canadian Parliament
for ChurchillIncumbent Assumed office
2008Preceded by Tina Keeper Personal details Born September 9, 1982
Thompson, ManitobaPolitical party New Democratic Party Spouse(s) Ryan Barker Residence Thompson, Manitoba Profession University lecturer, researcher Niki Christina Ashton, (born September 9, 1982) 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.[1]
Contents
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 College 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[2][3].
Career
In 2005, she defeated incumbent New Democratic Party 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.[4] 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,[5] the NDP vote nevertheless split between Ashton and Desjarlais, and the riding was won by Liberal Party candidate Tina Keeper.[6]
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[7] 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.[8]
On November 7, 2011, in Montreal, Niki Ashton launched her campaign as the ninth person to join the NDP leadership race.[9]
Electoral record
Canadian federal election, 2011 Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures New Democrat Niki Ashton 10,262 51.1% +3.34% - Conservative Wally Daudrich 5,256 26.2% +5.7% - Liberal Sydney Garrioch 4,087 20.4% -8.34% - Green Alberteen Spence 471 2.3% -0.99% - Total valid votes/Expense limit 20,076 100.00% - Total rejected ballots 107 Turnout 20,183 - - Canadian federal election, 2008 Party Candidate Votes % ±% New Democrat Niki Ashton 8,735 47.4% Liberal Tina Keeper 5,313 28.83% Conservative Wally Daudrich 3,774 20.48% Green Saara Harvie 606 3.29% Total valid votes 18,428 100.00% Total rejected ballots Turnout % NDP gain from Liberal Swing Canadian federal election, 2006 Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures Liberal Tina Keeper 10,159 40.67% +2.32% $75,179 New Democrat Niki Ashton 7103 28.44% -14.99% $70,290 Independent Bev Desjarlais 4283 17.15% -26.28% $23,042 Conservative Nazir Ahmad 2886 11.55% -3.57% $23,875 Green Jeff Fountain 401 1.61% -1.41% $2,837 Independent Brad Bodnar 146 0.58% $68.69 Total valid votes 100.00% Total rejected ballots Turnout 24978 55.53% Liberal gain from NDP Swing +8.7 References
- ^ "About Niki Ashton". Niki Ashton. New Democratic Party. http://nikiashton.ndp.ca/about. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- ^ "For Churchill MP, scrapping Canadian Wheat Board is a big fat headache". The Globe & Mail. October 28, 2011. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/for-churchill-mp-plans-to-scrap-canadian-wheat-board-are-a-big-fat-headache/article2218092. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
- ^ "Senators’ home cooking and a no-fuss wedding". Maclean's. September 12, 2011. http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/12/mitchel-raphael-on-senators’-home-cooking-and-a-no-fuss-wedding. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
- ^ "Churchill MP quits NDP after nomination loss". CBC News. October 18, 2005. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2005/10/18/mb_desjarlais-20051017.html. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- ^ "NDP Candidate Niki Ashton Backed by Unions". Manitoba Federation of Labour. http://www.mfl.mb.ca/a11.shtml. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- ^ "Canada Votes 2006 - Candidates & Ridings - 216 Churchill". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes2006/riding/216/. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- ^ Barker, John (February 25, 2011). "Michael Moore delivers the goods for Niki Ashton". Thompson Citizen (Glacier Media Group). http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/article/20110225/THOMPSON0501/110229953/-1/thompson/michael-moore-delivers-the-goods-for-niki-ashton. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- ^ Ashton, Niki (February 25, 2011). "It Was Flint Yesterday, It's Us and Wisconsin Today, and Tomorrow It's Going to Be Everyone". Mike & Friends Blog. Michael Moore. http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/it-was-flint-yesterday-its-us-wisconsin-today. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- ^ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/11/07/pol-ndp-niki-ashton.html
External links
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