In this episode, Nashwa and Ryan sit down with Niki Ashton, MP for Churchill–Keewatinook Aski. Together they explore the political landscape of the prairies and building a larger left in Canada. They also discuss the Regina Manifesto, the NDP’s labour origins, and current contradictions, and Ashton’s leadership run. International politics also gets some airtime, a favourite topic for Nashwa and Ryan.
We are grateful to have local music for this episode from Bluebloods. The song is "Postcard from a Quarantined Miner in Flin Flon." Created just over 100 years after the Winnipeg General Strike and Spanish Flu Pandemic, the work draws parallels between today's crises and those of Manitoba's past, exploring the province's storied history as a site of labour unrest and how isolated rural communities have dealt with previous pandemics and epidemics. Incidentally, HudBay, Flin Flon's major employer, is now in the process of finalizing the closure of its mines, which will bring significant unemployment to the city.
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Guest Information:
Guest of the week: Niki Ashton
Niki was first elected as MP for Churchill–Keewatinook Aski in 2008 when she was 26, and lives in her hometown of Thompson. She serves as the NDP’s Critic for Transport, and Deputy Critic for Women and Gender Equality. Niki believes in true reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. She is proud to work to bring together Indigenous peoples, students, labour, the LGBTQI2S+ community, and women in the pursuit of justice. Niki is a strong voice in Ottawa for change because she’s unafraid of challenging the status quo. She’s fought hard to end crushing student debt, expand health care to include pharmacare and dental coverage, and protect the environment.
Find Niki online!
Additional music provided by: Bluebloods
Led by producer-songwriter Conrad Sweatman, Bluebloods makes electronic-inflected R&B music about the Canadian prairies and North American midwest. Bluebloods' debut album, Make It Rain, earned a four star review in the Winnipeg Free Press, which called it a "a profound statement of intent from an emerging artist whose work will soon be sought after" while Winnipeg's Stylus magazine called it "one of the most ambitious works of art to ambush the ears of our city."
Find Bluebloods on Soundcloud, Facebook, Spotify, and their website.
Production Credits:
Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan
Show Music by Johnny Zapras and postXamerica
Additional music provided by Bluebloods—find them on Soundcloud, Facebook, Spotify, and their website.
Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica
Production by Nashwa Lina Khan and Johnny Zapras
Production Assistance by Raymond Khanano
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Episode 13 with Niki Ashton