OTTAWA — Niki Ashton, an NDP MP from northern Manitoba, tweeted Sunday she was heading to North Dakota to campaign for U.S. Democratic Party candidate Bernie Sanders — even as the House of Commons continues to sit ahead of its summer break.
Ashton tweeted, “We #FeelTheBern!” and included a picture of herself wearing a “Bernie For President” T-shirt. She tagged three other people in the tweet, including Canadian filmmaker Noam Gonick.
The House of Commons hasn’t yet wrapped up for the year. It is scheduled to sit until June 23, though adjournment could happen earlier or later depending on the legislative agenda.
Ashton isn’t technically breaking any rules in campaigning for the American candidate, assuming that she is paying for the trip on her own dime, but the tweet raised eyebrows.
The National Post reached Ashton Monday morning during a plane layover in Toronto, on her way back to Ottawa from Winnipeg.
“I’m definitely back at work today, and it wouldn’t be any other way,” she said. “It was a Sunday. The House doesn’t sit then.”
Ashton made it back to Ottawa in time to attend question period in the House chamber Monday afternoon.
It’s “no secret” she has been a supporter of the Sanders campaign, she said.
The trip to North Dakota Sunday was to “get a sense of what’s going on with the Bernie Sanders campaign, which I find really inspiring,” she said. “We stopped by the campaign office and talked to some of the volunteers, and I went house-to-house and talked with some people.”
She said there are many similarities between North Dakota and where she’s from in Manitoba, “so it’s interesting to see how they’re taking on some of the issues.”
The North Dakota Democratic primary takes place Tuesday. With the Democratic National Convention coming up at the end of July, Sanders was sitting Monday at 1,566 delegates versus frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s 2,357.
Sanders is seen as a social democrat and is the farthest-left candidate in the American presidential race. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will face off against Donald Trump in this fall’s general election.
Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: mariedanielles