Niki Ashton and Georgina Jolibois have joined all of their NDP colleagues in the party’s new shadow cabinet.
Ashton, MP for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, is the new NDP critic for Jobs (Employment and Workforce Development).
Jolibois, MP for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, is critic for Western Economic Diversification Canada. She is also deputy critic for Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
“Unemployment is a major challenge in our North and across the country,” Ashton said in a news release. “There is a rising concern about increasing rates of unemployment in many regions across Canada. We need to make sure that the new government acts now to create good jobs and real economic opportunities for Canadians.”
Ashton, now in her third term as northern Manitoba’s MP, said a key area of focus for her party will be apprenticeships, training and employment insurance.
She said she and the NDP will “fight” the “unfair” Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Supporters say the trade deal will strengthen Canada’s economy, but critics fear damage to certain industries and fewer Canadian-owned companies.
Jolibois is the new MP for northern Saskatchewan. She is one of 16 rookies in the NDP caucus.
All 44 NDP MPs have a place in the party’s shadow cabinet, announced by leader Tom Mulcair on Thursday, Nov. 12.
The New Democrats lost 51 seats in the Oct. 19 election, reducing them to third-party status behind the governing Liberals and official opposition Conservatives.
