NDP punishes Manitoba MP for trip abroad

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This article was published 01/01/2021 (1736 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The NDP has stripped Northern Manitoba MP Niki Ashton of her official critic roles for travelling to Greece without telling her party’s leadership team.

“This has been a very difficult time for me and my family,” Ashton told the Free Press in a text message, declining an interview.

The party said it was blindsided Thursday, when it learned Ashton had gone to visit her ailing grandmother in Greece, despite Canadian officials urging citizens to not leave the country.

As a result, Ashton will no longer hold the roles of NDP critic for transport and public ownership, and her role as deputy critic for gender issues.

In a statement, the NDP said Ashton did not inform Leader Jagmeet Singh and the party whip about the trip beforehand.

The NDP checked with its 24 MPs to see if they’d left the country as news emerged of provincial politicians from Ontario and Saskatchewan vacationing abroad.

“While we are sympathetic to Ms. Ashton’s situation and understand her need to be with her family, millions of Canadians are following public health guidelines — even when it made it impossible for them to visit sick or aging relatives,” reads the statement.

“Canadians, rightfully, expect their elected representatives to lead by example.”

The news comes just after Ontario MPP Rod Phillips resigned from his role as that province’s finance minister, after it came to light that he was vacationing in the Caribbean island of St. Barts.

Phillips had posted numerous photos and videos on social media that suggested he was still in Canada over the holidays. A handful of similar cases of provincial cabinet ministers and MLAs then came to light, though none in Manitoba as of Friday.

Ashton stressed she was travelling due to her grandmother’s illness.

She announced she was in Greece in a Friday tweet. Her previous tweet noted “COVID-19 isn’t taking time off for the holidays, and neither can the feds.”

In its news release, the NDP noted Greece currently only allows foreigners who can prove an essential reason to visit, and argued Ashton had passed that test. 

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca