A second aspiring MLA has announced her intention to seek the NDP nomination for the Thompson electoral district in hopes of defeating Progressive Conservative MLA Kelly Bindle in the next provincial election.
Danielle Adams, constituency assistant to Churchill and Churchill-Keewatinook Aski NDP MP Niki Ashton since 2009, announced May 22 that she will seek the NDP nomination, which will be decided at a meeting May 25 in Thompson.
Adams, who has served on the federal and provincial NDP executive in Thompson for more than a decade, as well as on the boards of the YWCA, Thompson Children’s World day care and the Thompson Ski Club, said the north no longer has a strong MLA representing it.
“With Steve Ashton as our MLA we had a strong NDP MLA who delivered for the North,” said Adams in press release announcing her candidacy for the nomination. “We have lost that under the PCs.”
Adams also stressed that, if nominated and elected, she would represent the unique concerns of the communities in the riding, which will include Churchill, Gillam, Fox Lake, Ilford, War Lake, Pikwitonei, Thicket Portage, Wabowden, York Landing, Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, Nelson House and Thompson in the next election, scheduled to take place by October 2020.
“I am proud to have visited and connected with communities throughout our constituency,” Adams said. “I am proud of the support I have received throughout the constituency. If elected my commitment is to keep in touch in between elections and to put the North first.”
As a nominee and potentially a future MLA, Adams says she will fight for investments and against privatization and cuts, with particular focus on upgrading existing roads, supporting the Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill, community-based health care, and support for education, local school boards and teachers. She also said she would seek more provincial support for childcare and for recreation facilities, including a new pool in Thompson.
Former Thompson NDP MLA Steve Ashton, Niki Ashton’s father, who represented the riding in the legislature from 1981 to 2016, was not allowed to seek the Thompson candidacy again by a decision of the provincial party’s candidate selection committee earlier this month.
Thompson Teachers’ Association president Cathy Pellizzaro announced her intention to seek the NDP nomination for Thompson in early April.
