NDP leader denies role in banning 2017 rival Ashton from running in next election

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This article was published 06/05/2019 (1963 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said he played no role in barring his former leadership rival, Steve Ashton, from becoming a candidate for the party in the next provincial election.

“It’s not my decision. And I recuse myself from any sort of appeal process…” he said Tuesday.

The Canadian Press, quoting a party official in Thompson, reported Monday that Ashton had been rejected by the NDP’s candidate selection committee.

The former NDP cabinet minister, who served in the legislature as the member for Thompson for 35 years until his defeat in 2016, is believed to be appealing the decision to the party’s executive.

Ashton did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Free Press Tuesday.

Blair Hudson, a member of the NDP’s provincial council — the party’s governing body between conventions — told the Canadian Press he believed Ashton is being barred, in part, because he was the lone challenger to Wab Kinew in the 2017 leadership race. The race became bitter at one point as details of Kinew’s brushes with the law were leaked to the media. Some of Kinew’s supporters accused Ashton’s campaign of being behind the leaks.

Kinew said he plays no role in the candidate vetting process. Although he’s a member of the party executive, the NDP leader said he will not participate in any candidate appeals. He could not immediately say whether two members of his caucus, Tom Lindsey (Flin Flon) and Bernadette Smith (Point Douglas), would also be recusing themselves.

NDP provincial secretary Tim Johnson said party rules prevent him from commenting on any particular case.

He said the candidate selection committee consists of longtime party members who play no other role in election planning or preparation. No elected officials or party executive members are members of the committee, he added.

Meanwhile, Premier Brian Pallister waded into the controversy Tuesday, saying it appears that Ashton is being excluded from being a candidate because he disclosed accurate information about Kinew’s past.

“I wouldn’t want to see a candidate excluded… on the basis that he released honest and accurate information about another candidate in their party or any other party,” Pallister said.

The premier acknowledged that his only knowledge of the issue came from press reports.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca