Thompson NDP MLA Steve Ashton, minister of infrastructure and transportation and the marathon man of Manitoba politics, met with Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger this morning and submitted his resignation as minister to run for the leadership of the party and premier’s job. It is Ashton’s second bid to become premier. He lost to Selinger in October 2009. Ashton’s resignation from cabinet is effective at midnight tonight.
Ashton had served as minister of infrastructure and transportation since November 2009. In October 1999, Ashton was first appointed to that ministerial portfolio in what was then the job of minister of highways and government services (the department was renamed in January 2001 as transportation and government services) and he held the post until a September 2002 cabinet shuffle when he moved to to conservation – and so on around the cabinet table over the years – until he returned to infrastructure and transportation more than five years ago.
Ashton recalled in a conversation with me a few years ago how much satisfaction he had as minister getting to re-jig the Official Highway Map of Manitoba to better reflect Manitoba “North of 53,” pointing perhaps to that interesting mix of policy wonk (he knows his facts and then some) and proud Northerner that he is.
He’s the second NDP MLA to toss his hat into the ring, along with former health minister Theresa Oswald. Both are running to replace Selinger, who is also expected to run for this own job. Last month, five Manitoba NDP provincial cabinet ministers, the so-called Gang of Five, made up of Oswald, Jennifer Howard, Erin Selby, Stan Struthers and Andrew Swan, resigned on the same day, citing concerns over being able to speak their minds in government. Ashton did not join them at the time in resigning.
The deadline to join the race is Jan. 6 and voting is expected to happen in March during the NDP convention.
In his resignation letter to the premier, Ashton writes:
“I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve in your cabinet as Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation and as Government House Leader. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve the people of Manitoba in a number of senior roles within the Legislature and government as an MLA and Minister.
“Like many others, I regret the public conflict within both the government and party and confusion and negativity this has created with the general public.
“I understand that within all parties, caucuses and cabinets there are always legitimately and strongly held differences of opinions between individuals. I also have respected the long standing traditions of both the party and parliamentary system where those differences have been dealt with internally. If the differences were irreconcilable, the honourable action was for resignations to be offered and Cabinet and caucus solidarity and confidentiality upheld.
“Although we haven’t agreed on all issues over the years, I have respected your position as Premier and the positions of fellow cabinet and caucus members. I believe that you have acted with principle and integrity in your role as Minister and Premier.
“Our government has many accomplishments to be proud of. We have brought in many important initiatives that have enhanced the quality of life for all Manitobans. We should all take credit for the successes we have shared and responsibility for the times we have fallen short of the mark. We all know that we have much more to do, but unfortunately the events of the past few weeks and months have temporarily distracted us from that goal.
“I believe that we are at a crossroads as a party and a government. I believe we must reconnect with Manitobans and put forward a clear vision for our province. We must lead our party and government through this current crisis and beyond. That is why I am entering the leadership race.
“I believe we need to give the party membership the opportunity to choose a Leader who can engage our membership, bring the party back together and reconnect with Manitobans.
“Greg, my entry into the race should not be interpreted as any reflection on your personal commitment and the hard work you and our government have done over the past six years. I have particularly appreciated working with you on such critical issues as fighting major floods and building our core infrastructure. We should be proud of what we have accomplished and I believe that the NDP can continue to enhance the quality of life for all Manitobans.
“I will be tendering my resignation from Cabinet effective 12:00 midnight December 22, 2014 as I believe that it is inappropriate to continue to be a member of Cabinet while competing for the leadership of a party in government. This will enable me to put forward my ideas, hopes and aspirations for a united party based on the principles and long traditions of the NDP and a return to government that translates those fundamental beliefs into positive action.
“I assure you that whatever the outcome of the leadership contest, I remain committed to working with the NDP, our caucus and within government, no matter who the Leader is, to continue to create a better Manitoba.”
There has never been a Manitoba premier from Northern Manitoba. Former NDP premier Gary Doer stepped down in 2009, before being named by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Ashton ran for the party leadership and premier’s job in 2009 against Selinger and former justice minister Andrew Swan, who dropped out of the race early making it a two-way Ashton-Selinger contest.
While Ashton outspent both his rivals in the leadership race in 2009, Selinger took almost two-thirds of the ballots cast and sailed to victory in the two-way race with 1,317 votes to Ashton’s 685. None of Ashton’s cabinet colleagues, some who had sat around the cabinet table with him for a decade, supported his bid to become premier in 2009, but this may well be a different sort of race in 2015. Ashton is expected to get at least some benefit in certain NDP quarters for remaining loyal during the Gang of Five crisis this past fall, where Selinger named him to replace Swan as government house leader.
There have only been a dozen provincial general elections since the Thompson riding was created in June 1969. Ashton has won three quarters of them – or the last nine – which is every one he has contested.
Ashton, a native of Surrey in England, came to Canada at the age of 11 with his family. His dad was unemployed, he noted in April 2008, when they arrived in Toronto in 1967, and they moved the same year to Thompson.
Ashton, 58, is a leap-year baby, born Feb. 29, 1956. A graduate of R.D. Parker Collegiate in Thompson and the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, he received his M. A. in economics from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and is an economist. He was president of the University of Manitoba Students Union in 1978-79 and has lectured in economics for the former Inter Universities North in Thompson and Cross Lake.
At the age of 25, Ashton was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the Nov. 17, 1981 provincial election for the NDP in the Thompson riding, defeating one-term Progressive Conservative Labour Minister Ken MacMaster, the 47-year-old incumbent elected in 1977, by 72 votes in a race that has entered the realm of local political folklore. Ashton garnered 2,890 votes to MacMaster’s 2,818. Liberal Cy Hennessey finished dead last with 138 votes. At the time of his first election, Ashton was involved in an Inco strike as a member of Local 6166 of the Steelworkers. Ashton still gets a kick out of pointing out his shift boss voted him for him, saying he would make a better politician than a miner.
In November 2006, looking back at having served 25 years as Thompson’s NDP MLA, Ashton noted, “What matters is getting results,” he said, pointing to former Premier Ed Schreyer and Joe Borowski as two people he looked to for inspiration.
Borowski, Thompson’s first MLA when the new provincial riding came into existence in June 1969, defeated former Thompson mayor Tim Johnston’s father, Dr. Blain Johnston, by seven votes in the Feb. 20, 1969 byelection in the old provincial riding of Churchill. He went on four months later to win the newly created riding in the June 25, 1969 general election.
Ashton joined the NDP because he says he was inspired by what “Joe Borowski and the NDP had done in the North, particularly in terms of highways and what Premier Ed Schreyer and the NDP had done in the North and provincially.” He volunteered in the 1973 campaign and canvassed around Pike and Pickerel crescents where he currently lives.
He worked at Inco numerous times – either as a summer student or full time between 1972 and 1981. This included working in transportation, process technology, maintenance, the smelter and refinery, and finally in 1981 T-1 underground.
To understand the longevity and the consistency of Ashton’s left-of-centre democratically socialist ideology, look back to two key years – first, 1977, and then the fall of 1981 and his first victory as MLA: “To understand 1981 you have to go back to 1977,” Ashton told me in October 2011. “Schreyer and the NDP had been defeated. A few weeks after the election Thompson was hit by major cuts in jobs at Inco. It was also hit with major cuts and layoffs by the Tories. This initially included initially eliminating the Inter Universities North, which was the only university presence we had in the North at the time. Construction on the Limestone Dam was also stopped. The combination devastated Thompson.”
Ashton did not serve in the cabinet of Howard Pawley for the seven years he led the NDP in Manitoba as premier from 1981 to 1988, but easily won re-election in 1986, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011.
The NDP were defeated in the provincial election of 1988 and Ashton served for a time as house leader for the NDP in opposition. He served as labour critic, health critic and led the fight against the privatization of MTS in 1997.
When Doer became premier in October 1999, Ashton was appointed as minister of highways and government services. Following a cabinet shuffle in September 2002, Ashton became minister of conservation. In June 2003, he was also made minister of labour and immigration with responsibility for multiculturalism and administration of The Workers Compensation Act.
In November 2003, he was named as the province’s first minister of water stewardship and in 2007 was shuffled to the post of minister of intergovernmental affairs and minister responsible for emergency measures.
Hari Dimitrakopoulou-Ashton, his wife,teaches mathematics in the business administration program in the Roblin Centre at Red River College in Winnipeg. She is also the author of Women Entrepreneurs in the North. She moved to Thompson with Steve in December 1979.
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