The Left's Political Betrayal of Platform Promises

Campaigning From the Left and Governing From the Right in Canada

by TRNN

December 28, 2018

Canadian MP Niki Ashton tells Paul Jay both the NDP and the Liberals have been guilty of making progressive promises during election campaigns and legislating from the center-right once in power. - Part (1/2)

We’re in Vermont at the Sanders Institute Gathering. There’s a couple of Canadians here; Naomi Klein, and also MP Niki Ashton. She’s one of the longest-serving members of the New Democratic Party.

For our American audience, NDP, the New Democratic Party, is the Canadian social democratic party. It’s a little different than, perhaps, some of the social democratic movements in the United States, because the NDP has actually taken power in various provinces over the years. But it’s kind of controversial. What have they actually done when they had that power? And just what does, what does it mean when you get the kind of social democratic campaigning, and then you actually have to govern? And so we’re going to talk about that, and the implications for that in terms of U.S. politics, but also Canada.

Niki Ashton has been a key member of the NDP caucus, having served as an NDP critic for Aboriginal Affairs, Status of Women, Post-Secondary Education and Youth, and is currently the critic for Jobs, Employment, and Workforce Development, and the deputy critic for Reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous Peoples.