Liberal candidate looks to take Manitoba's northernmost riding after giving NDP MP 'a good run' in 2015
Rebecca Chartrand says she gave NDP candidate Niki Ashton "a good run for her money" the last time she ran in Manitoba's northernmost riding, and the Liberal candidate says she's now looking to do it again.
Chartrand, the president and CEO of Indigenous Strategy, a management consulting company, is running for the federal Liberals in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, the party confirmed late Tuesday.
She'll attempt to unseat the NDP's Niki Ashton, who has won five consecutive elections in the riding.
Ashton may have been considered a lock to win the seat again, but polls suggesting the NDP's popularity is sliding could point to an opening for the Liberals and Conservatives to seriously challenge the party's supremacy in a riding the NDP has won 12 times in the last 15 elections.
"I see that I have a chance for sure. I think I gave Niki Ashton a good run for her money the last time I ran," Chartrand said, referring to the 2015 election, in which she won 42 per cent of the votes cast (12,575 votes) to Ashon's 45 per cent (13,487 votes).
Ashton won the two subsequent elections by at least 3,100 ballots.
'A seat at the table'
Chartrand, who is Anishinaabe, Inninew and Métis and from Treaty 4 territory, said Indigenous people "need to have a seat at the table" in a riding where 75 per cent of people identity as Indigenous, according to the 2021 census.
"Niki Ashton is not Indigenous. And all things being equal, I think it should be based on the person's skill and what they bring, but democracy also requires change," said Chartrand.
"And so I think it's important to bring in some fresh ideas and to bring somebody into a position that's actually going to be in a party that is going to govern this country."
Chartrand said the Liberals have wanted her to run in previous elections, but she was busy with her work and children. She felt compelled to run this time as Canadians have galvanized around a "common enemy" in U.S. President Donald Trump amid the ongoing trade war, she said.
"With the NDP and their [polling] numbers just plummeting, a vote for Niki Ashton would be a wasted vote and a very critical one at this time in history."
CBC requested comment Tuesday night from the NDP for this story.
The Conservatives have yet to announce a candidate for the riding.
Ashton has been a consistent advocate on Parliament Hill around Indigenous issues and the cost of living.
She came under fire last summer when CBC News reported she billed taxpayers for a trip she took to reportedly meet with "stakeholders" over the Christmas holidays in Quebec — travel that included bringing her husband and kids along. She has since paid back some of those expenses.
In light of the current trade war, Chartrand said she considers northern Manitoba a "national trade lifeline" the country can no longer ignore.
She says if elected she'll advance economic development opportunities in the north, ranging from the railway to the Port of Churchill and the abundance of critical minerals.
"I don't think we can see infrastructure in the north as a cost. I think we need to see it as an investment for the rest of Canada."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
27 minutes ago
- National Post
How a little-known procedure helped the Liberals dodge their first confidence vote
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government used an obscure parliamentary maneuver to sidestep its first major test of confidence on Wednesday, adopting its reply to the throne speech by division. Article content The measure sailed through the House of Commons without a vote after Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux, the parliamentary secretary to government House leader Steven MacKinnon, moved without objection for the government reply to be sent to the King via Governor General Mary Simon. Article content Conservative Leader in the House of Commons Andrew Scheer was one of the MPs on hand to watch the motion carry. Article content Ian Brodie, a political scientist and former chief of staff to ex-prime minister Stephen Harper, said that the procedural set piece likely reflected a tacit agreement between the new government and opposition parties. Article content 'I'm sure the opposition parties thought this through and have consented to let the Carney government continue on,' said Brodie. Article content According to the House rules of procedure, motions like the throne speech reply may be adopted without a vote under two circumstances: by unanimous consent and 'on division.' Article content The latter happens when support for the motion isn't unanimous but no member of a recognized party moves for a recorded vote on its passage to be taken. Article content Interim NDP leader Don Davies said in the preceding hours that he'd instruct his seven-member caucus to vote against the motion but wasn't in a position to make good on the threat, with the NDP not having enough seats to count as a 'recognized party' for the the purposes of parliamentary proceedings. Article content The minority Liberal government suffered a minor scare on Monday evening when it didn't have the votes blocking a hostile amendment to the throne speech reply calling on it to present an economic update before Parliament breaks for the summer. The procedural vote was not a matter of confidence and the government has said it doesn't consider it binding. Article content Liberal MPs downplayed the narrowly lost vote, saying that they weren't surprised by the result. Article content Brodie says that a new election would not necessarily have been triggered if the Liberal throne speech reply was voted down. Article content 'The Governor General could reasonably ask (Conservative Leader Pierre) Poilievre to form a government. It's possible he could command the confidence of the House,' said Brodie.
CBC
42 minutes ago
- CBC
'Lost Canadians' citizenship bill tabled as court deadline looms
Immigration Minister Lena Diab tabled legislation Thursday to restore citizenship to the "lost Canadians" after a court found the existing law unconstitutional. The term refers to people who were born outside of the country to Canadian parents who were also born in another country. In 2009, the federal Conservative government of the day changed the law so that Canadians who were born abroad could not pass down their citizenship if their child was born outside of Canada. That law was deemed unconstitutional by the Ontario Superior Court in December 2023 and the Liberal government did not challenge the ruling. The government received its fourth deadline extension to pass legislation to address the issue in April. It applied for a one-year extension, but Justice Jasmine Akbarali set a Nov. 20 deadline, saying that should be enough time for the government to implement "remedial legislation" if it makes it a "priority." Akbarali has criticized the government's handling of the legislation in her decisions to grant extensions, citing the harm that could follow if the Stephen Harper-era law were to be declared invalid without replacement legislation. NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the bill was delayed in the last session of Parliament by the Liberals' failure to act in a "timely fashion" and a Conservative filibuster that stalled the House of Commons' work for months. "The court has given the government yet another extension, and it would be incumbent on this Parliament to make sure that legislation is passed," Kwan said. The previous "lost Canadians" citizenship bill died on the order paper when the House prorogued earlier this year. The Senate was engaged in an early study of the legislation to help it become law quickly. The new legislation, Bill C-3, proposes giving automatic citizenship to anyone denied citizenship under the current law. It also would establish a new framework for citizenship by descent going forward. The legislation proposes Canadian citizenship could be passed down to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, if their parents spent a cumulative three years in Canada before the child's birth or adoption.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Cabinet minister harassed employee during stint at RRC Polytech: 2019 probe
Manitoba's only federal cabinet minister was found to have repeatedly harassed an employee she managed in a role she held at Red River College Polytechnic five years ago. A whistleblower has leaked the findings of a 2019 workplace investigation into newly elected Liberal MP Rebecca Chartrand's conduct when she was employed by the post-secondary institute in Winnipeg. Chartrand was elected to represent the riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski in the April 28 election. JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs Rebecca Chartrand Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed the rookie politician to his inner circle just over three weeks ago. Chartrand, minister of northern and arctic affairs, was tasked with overseeing the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. Documents obtained by the Free Press show RRC Polytech hired a local law firm to probe a complaint made about Chartrand, the school's then-executive director of Indigenous strategy, on Sept. 16, 2019. The complainant was informed three months later that the grievance had been substantiated by third-party investigators from Rachlis Neville LLP. 'Specifically, they found that Ms. Chartrand's conduct amounted to personal harassment,' Curtis Craven, director of human resources for RRC Polytech, wrote in a Dec. 19, 2019 letter to the employee. Craven indicated the investigators found 'severe' issues related to Chartrand's approach to engaging with, assigning work to and managing the performance of the complainant between June and September of that year. '(Chartrand's) conduct could reasonably cause an individual to be humiliated or intimidated and was repeated, and had a lasting, harmful effect on you,' he wrote. The employer had no plans to take 'any further corrective actions,' given Chartrand's departure — the circumstances of which were not made clear in the letter — from the campus, the HR director added. Chartrand's LinkedIn page indicates she began her position at the school in August 2017 and left in January 2020. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. She moved on to various other jobs, including for the Seven Oaks School Division and Indspire, over the last five years. The experienced Anishinaabe leader from Pine Creek First Nation in Treaty 4 remains listed as the founding president and chief executive officer of Indigenous Strategy Alliance. Winnipeg South Centre MP Ben Carr worked alongside Chartrand at her consulting firm before he first secured his seat for the Liberals in a 2023 byelection. Neither Chartrand nor the Liberal Party of Canada immediately responded to requests for comment Thursday. Maggie MacintoshEducation reporter Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative. Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
