Nuanced. - 212: Rob Ashton: Why He’s Running to Lead the NDP

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

B.C. union leader Rob Ashton joins Aaron Pete to discuss his run for NDP leader, sharing his vision to rebuild Canada’s working class and his views on Pierre Poilievre, Mark Carney, and the future of the party.Send us a textThe Folium Diary Wants You! (to listen and have fun ;-)101 Nights of Storytelling! (Scheherazade on a budget). A show that will change the whirl.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify The Folium Diary Wants You! (to listen and have fun ;-)101 Nights of Storytelling! (Scheherazade on a budget). A show that will change the whirl.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the shownuancedmedia.ca

I'm the president of the International Longshore Warhouse Union Canada and leadership candidate for the federal NDP. Why you're running for the federal NDP leadership race? I just got fed up with liberals and conservatives lined workers. Election to election to election. The working class are usually just left in the dust. Inflation is out of control. You brought that essence. Can you talk about just the decision to launch? People like Pierre. Donald find angry people. angry people and they say you have to be angry at that person over there because they don't look

like me. That's BS. Pierre Polyev, he's made great gains in working class communities. What is your read on him? Pierre's been a politician for 20 years. I don't think he's drank out of a coffee pot on a shop floor. But he's talking a good game, but he's got nothing to show for it. Government has been willing to take more and more taxation from Canadians and that pulls right out of our paychecks. I don't mind paying taxes, but they taxed the wrong people. Stop taxing regular everyday Canadians and start taxing the billionaires and the millionaires. Can we talk about Canada Post? The person who's the CEO is also a board member for a peer or later. If that's not disgusting, I don't know what is. The CEO should not be sitting on the board a peer or later. What are

you fighting for? I'm fighting for people to be able to live in dignity, to have a job that lets them live. And I'm fighting to get rid of the lies and the BS that happens in Ottawa. We may fight! Is there a Canada first movement rising in the NDP? Rob, thank you so much for joining us. Would you mind briefly introducing yourself? Hey, but. Thanks for having me, Aaron. My name is Rob Ashton. I'm the president of the International Longshore Warhouse Unit Canada. I've been the president now for 10 years. but in union politics for the last 20 and a longshoreman for 30, going on 32 years now. And leadership candidate for the federal NDP.

May I ask you to explain why you're running for the federal NDP leadership race? Yeah, I just got fed up with liberals and conservatives lined workers. You know, they told us for 100 plus years or some variation of them that they're going to make our lives better. And all we've seen from election to election to election, the rich get richer and the working class are usually just left in the dust. And that's the nice way of saying it. And so I just got tired of it. And I decided, well, actually I talked to my dad about it. He was the final say after I talked to my kids. And I said, what do you think about a longshoreman? running for federal leadership to the NDP,

and he goes, well, a sudden he goes, you got one choice, really. He goes, you either put your money where your mouth is or you shut up. And he goes, I've known you for 49 years. You never shut up. So I think the choice is made for you. And that's where it all started, really.

A part of it, there's more of a past history about how I really got intrigued about it. But that was the decision I made is, something has to stop the growing inequality in the classes between working class and ruling class and nobody's given people the straight goods and I'm tired of it. Can you define working class for us?

Yeah, you bet. So when I talk about the working class, it is everybody, except for like CEOs of major corporations, millionaires, billionaires, even out trillionaires, Lord help us all. So when you talk about working class, it's pretty much like everybody's got to go to work to make a living. It's people that are marginalized. It's people that, for whatever reason, can't go to work on your paycheck. It's homeless people for whatever reason, because I know people that are working one and two jobs maybe more,

and they're still homeless because it's so expensive. It's members of indigenous nations across the country, members of the LGBT II Plus community across our country, Métis people across the country, Inuit people across the country. Anybody that isn't, anybody that doesn't have to worry about how much money they make a year, You know what I mean? Like, because I know a lot of people that make really good money. But even they got to worry about how much they work, right?

Is it enough to pay their bills? But when you've got people like Jeff Bezos and pick any of the other... Elon Musk, Bill Gates. 10,000 of them, they're not even close. Small business owners, they're a part of the working class. They're a big part of the working class. because small business owners are a key part of our economy and jobs in the communities. Why don't you like the term middle class?

Middle class is something that I believe was invented by the ruling class. So liberals, conservatives, Republicans, because it gives something for people to strive for, but it's a make-believe thing. And there's only two classes. There's the working class and there's the ruling class. And so when people say, when government says, well, we want to build a bigger middle class, what you're saying to people is you have to work a little bit harder to make it to the middle class. You have to work a little bit longer to make it to the middle class.

So if we want to grow the middle class, well, that means there's a lower class. And that's BS. We're all part of the same equation. And we have a Sam back on the waterfront, right? A rising tide raises all ships. And that's what should happen. And so if there truly is a middle class, then that's never going to happen

because the government only talks about increasing the middle class. They should be talking about doing better things for the working class, the people that built this country. One of the clips that I got to see of you in your launch was you talking about a lot of these issues and the importance of unions and the importance of sharing your perspective and advocating for the working class. And one of the pieces that really stood out to me was your voice, that you brought something to life in that speech that I think resonated with so many people because we're calmly talking about how inflation is. is out of control. We can say it's 2% this year, but that doesn't account for the fact

that it was 8% a couple years ago, and we're still reeling from the impact of that year, that that doesn't just disappear because it was a couple years ago. That's still having its effects on people. And I feel like we're having very calm, measured conversations about things that are absolutely destroying people's lives. And I think you brought that essence,

and it just woke people up to, like, there is an energy of let's get mad about things. Not in a destroy everything way, but in a, there's got to be a line somewhere in the sand, right, where we stop having just reasonable conversations. Can you talk about just the decision to launch and how you chose to approach that conversation? Yeah, you bet. It's a natural conversation. So I looked at, first off, I looked at my membership.

And my membership is angry about the cost of living. We had a strike in Longshore had a strike in 23. for 13 days because of the cost of living, plus a couple other issues where our jobs were going to be affected due to automation and other jurisdictional issues. Our foremen are locked out, flight attendants went on strike, an amazing group of activists right there, amazing. But what we look at when you talk to people, is they're angry? Everybody's angry about the situation that we've been.

put in because we have been put here. We didn't create it. People in Ottawa created it. People in corporate offices created the situation that we're in. And so that's like what people like Pierre, people like Donald down south and other world leaders on the right side of center in politics is they find angry people and they say. And they say, say you have to be angry at that person over there because they don't look like me. They don't look like you. And so I'm a white guy. So by their logic, I should be mad at everybody that's not white because it's all their problems.

And that's BS. So they're finding ways to tunnel people's anger in the wrong direction, in the false direction. When the people that we have to actually be angry about are the people in Ottawa. and the people that sit in their Ivy Towers. Those are the people that we have to direct our anger towards and our frustration towards because they're the ones that created this problem. They're the ones that created the 7, 8, 9, whatever percent, depending on what country you live, inflation.

And when I speak, that's what I speak to. I speak to the anger and the frustration that everybody has because there's millions of people out there that would love to be able to be given an opportunity where I am to be able to say those things, but they don't have, maybe they're quiet and they don't want to be loud, or they have never been given the opportunity to have their peace said. So when I talk at these places, I feel like I feel like I'm talking for them, I guess, and it's not

so much anger when I talk, although I seem angry. It's a passion because we have to be heard. We have to be heard that we deserve our fair share because nobody's given us our fair share, so we have to take it from them. And so that's where that type of vocalization comes from when I'm speaking in public gatherings is I feel the energy where I am. The other piece that I just took away from it is our political class has gotten so comfortable saying nothing on TV a lot. And there's a certain politeness that comes with an interview where you don't want to be disrespectful and a good interviewer will go, I don't really think that was an answer to my

question and ask it perhaps a second time. But after that second time, we move on and we let them off the hook. And I find that when you had that element of emotion of perhaps compassion and understanding of the circumstances that you're seeing, it reminds people that this is a real life, that this isn't just TV, that this isn't just good for sound bites and non-answers are allowed. That wakes people up to like, if you're not going to answer the question, we're not okay with that. That is not an acceptable approach. 100%. And people should demand better. Like if a politician, Lord help us all, I'll be one soon, if a politician doesn't answer your questions or doesn't give you the truth of what we all so deserve, I have a saying, you have a right to kick that politician in the butt, not physically, but to straighten that person out.

And that's what we've been missing, is we've been missing politicians that are not afraid to come on and say, you know what, excuse the language. I'm going to, I fucked up. Yeah, I agree. I apologize. We have to do this and we have to be better. Or I have to resign. 100%. Like the willingness for people who have just destroyed certain portfolios federally,

the willingness for them to come forward, I messed up, I don't deserve your trust and confidence, I must resign over this. It has faded away in recent years. It has because people have become complacent. And politicians have become complacent. we have to demand better of our politicians you can make a mistake as a human being understandable but if it's big enough

you're out the door like you should be as a person just be like you know what this is a big issue where I screwed up maybe I have to leave right and that's life that happens but we can't be complacent anymore right if that politician isn't doing stuff for your community and you elected him or he's representing your constituency

you have to go out of that chat with that person and if that doesn't work, get a bunch of people together or protest in front of their office. I love a good protest, like a reasonable one, and make sure that they hear your voice. And if they're doing good, yeah, tell them they're doing good. But integrity, not in all politicians, but in quite a few of them, maybe integrity is their wrong word,

but I think they're afraid to show that they're actually human beings, right, that they do make mistakes, that they're not always right, or they don't know everything. I definitely don't know everything. Will I make a mistake? I hope not. Will it happen? I'm 49 years old.

I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, so it might happen. But that's why you surround yourself with a good team. because where I don't know stuff, I have a team that can advise me and then I can educate myself on an issue and then I can present that issue. And a lot of politicians don't do that. They just run and hide. You mentioned Pierre Pollyev,

and from my understanding he's made great gains in working class communities, that they are seeing him as a voice for that. And I'll say that one of the interesting pieces is he's one of the only politicians I've heard that questions like our central banking system and whether or not that actually works for the people or does not, he was one of the proponents of Bitcoin acknowledging the fact that inflation was increasing and that needs to be a pathway out for people to opt out of a system that inherently works against them, a hidden tax that pushes down on working class people.

What is your read on him? Because he started to gain grounds in your area. Oh, yeah, Pierre did a hell of a cell job, or whoever his team behind him, did a hell of a sell job. Pierre's been a politician for 20 years. I don't think he's drank out of a coffee pot in a lunchroom on a shop floor or anywhere for that matter, except maybe in Parliament Hill. Maybe once for a photo op. And he likes to assign him to people. when his party has been in power

is the only other party that's ever been in power in this country so he can't go around blaming just the liberals because the conservative has made just a hell of a mess as they've done. And what is sad to me is that this career politician, this 20-year politician, is getting away with it. But he's talking a good game, but he's got nothing to show for it, right? He can't go in there and show battle scars, not at all.

I mean, like, when we talk about the banking system, and I'm not huge on banks, I hate banks. I hate going to a bank machine and paying four or five bucks to withdraw money. Is that four or five bucks somebody might need for diapers for the kid, or actually, they're probably more like 20 bucks now? It's been a long time since I bought divers. But they've been a part of the problem for the last hundred years by being okay with taking just a little bit more from working class Canadians. Just a little bit, just a little bit right here.

I'm just going to take this little bit for the banks because, you know, they've only made $100 billion profit or whatever the number is. And they need a little bit more money. they won't look at, like, speaking of banks really quickly, I'm going to digress, I guess, is in smaller communities in this country, up north, small islands, there's no banks. We have post offices. We've got a guy that's running the post office right now that owns, post office owns peer later. You want to make it profitable, listen to the union members that, and listen to the community.

members that need banking, banking systems in their communities. And so instead of bringing in CIBC or Royal Bank, use a post office because they're there. And people say, well, nobody uses banks anymore. Everybody does it online. Not necessarily everybody. I said, there's communities in this country that don't have online capabilities. There's a lot of communities in this country that don't have cell coverage. So, yeah, utilize what we have.

Make it easier for people to live, to earn money, to save money, to go on a vacation. Like, make our lives easier, not the people that Pierre represents, which is corporate, not the people that Carney represents, which is bankers and corporate, because they all play for the same team. And I'm tired of them winning all the time. I'm tired of them drowning us. We have to do better, and we have to get angry. We have to point our anger like we were talking about before.

Where it deserves, and that's at the people that have made our lives shitty in this country. Can I ask a follow-up on that? I guess I would be interested to understand your perspective because Pierre can't take responsibility for his party's failures over the past 100 years. He's only one man. You're only one man and can't take responsibility for what your party has been through over the last 20 years. It has continually, it's had ups and downs, but it's steadily moved in the wrong direction, hitting an all-time low in this most recent election.

And I would say, Jagmeet Singh did not feel like he represented the voices you're representing from a lot of Canadians' perspectives. seemed in many ways out of touch. There was that tragic moment, I don't, I think it was out of context, but that when he was stepping out of some very fancy vehicle, that it just, it just felt like he was not a truly working class person. And your party has moved away from that, nothing against him, but Tom O'Kare was a lawyer by trade.

Like, he was not in the shophouse working every day. So how do you square Pierre Polyev with your own party's decisions in the very recent past? so we'll be back after a quick break my name is sherry hazard and this is the folium diary in this diary i will be recording my impressions of a new program called the folium this new app will bring the benefits of earth's collective wisdom to everyone, everywhere, all the time. If that sounds wildly ambitious, utopian, and let's face it, kind of crazy, join the club. I will be posting a new page every evening at

9 o'clock. What could possibly go wrong? Pierre Pollyov can be blamed for a lot of stuff that's happened over the last 20 years because he was in government when Harper ran the joint. Right? Harper was no friend of the working class. Not at all. But how do you square that? You know, we did, the NDP did the supply and confidence agreement. And it was really good. Bad timing. Really bad timing. But it did a lot of good things for this country. We had dental. For a lot of people that couldn't get dental. And dental health goes to physical health. And it can change people's lives. We got a better pharma care program, and we got anti-scab legislation, which is a huge benefit to workers. So, yeah, there was stuff about jug meat and a car and a watch and stuff like that. And, yeah, we might have, the party might have drifted more towards the center, maybe try to stepping over it a little bit.

but that's not where my party is right my NDP party left-de-centered democratic socialism and my biggest want or need I should say is to my first day as leader of the party and walking into the house to take my seat I'll probably have to dress up in a suit I own suits for the record but I'm going to have my work boots on because I'm there to represent workers I'm there to represent

everyday Canadians so yeah my first day I'm walking my work boots on and one of them starts saying something stupid like MP Gore Johnson the NDP is trying to save farmers so that they can use their own seeds so the corporations don't steal from that

when you got somebody on the other side of the aisle saying, oh, this is a good idea. Let's take the farmer's seeds out of their hands and let one santhore or whatever other seed company come in and sell them seeds that they don't need because they have their own. You bet your ass I'll be tapping my work boots on that wood. Because that's nothing but...

Ugh. So want to swear. It's just, it's gross. It's gross that our government wants to destroy farmers and their livelihoods and give everything to the corporations. And that started under Harper when he got rid of the Canadian Wheatport. I know I'm going way out of the realm of your question, and I'm sorry, but it's gross how our government is run. It's not for the people of this country.

It's for the corporations. It's for corporations that are in Dubai or the U.S. pick a country, our country's being run to better them, our country's being run the better the corporations that are in Canada or pension funds. It's not being run properly for Canadians, and that's disgusting. I agree with you. I guess the only one that you didn't list in that grouping that I would put in there is government. Government has been willing, under Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau, been willing to take more

and more taxation from Canadians and deliver programs like you've described like healthcare like dental services but to me those are wrongly placed with the federal government those should be provincial issues because then provinces can adjust those as needed if they think that that's what their

community needs but when you create something at the highest level of Canada and then you go each province needs a process you have to hire thousands of bureaucrats to figure out how you're going to implement that in each province on behalf of those provinces and so some of those programs, I just think

maybe wrongly were taken over by the federal government, and perhaps they'll say that's because they were needed and nobody was taking action, but the cost to hire people to manage those programs has ballooned, and we have thousands of new federal workers. One of the reasons that

Aaron Gunn pointed to us why Pierre Poliev lost his seat was because of how many federal workers live within his riding as a full-time job. We've seen this provincially as well. David Eby's brought, and John Hogan brought on the most amount of staff. And we had, I think, 111,000 new employees, and I think 2024. And 100,000 were government employees. And so the government bureaucracy has continued to grow. And that

pulls right out of our paychecks. And I think that's the fear right now with NDP and liberal, is that they are just willing to grow the bureaucracy and not deliver to everyday Canadians. So you are right. Taxes are being increased. by the liberal government. That was in power and still continues to this day. Taxes, I don't mind paying taxes. I pay a lot of taxes. But they taxed the wrong people, right?

What's the poverty line now? Not the poverty line. Tax rate federally, anybody under 16,000 doesn't have to pay tax federally. When was that number set? 500 years ago? Yeah. Right? That number should be set of 50,000.

thousand dollars at least and then anybody that makes less than fifty thousand dollars picking a number of my head no federal taxes then let's tax the billionaires and the millionaires and the trillionaires wealth in this country let's tax them because they're not paying any personal taxes so let's go after them let's go after them to pay for the stuff that we need stop taxing regular workers right stop taxing regular everyday Canadians and start taxing those because they're not paying nothing tax their wealth make them pay for it and yeah there's a lot of public surface people that bureaucrats are whether there's enough of them not enough of them too many of them i'll tell you on april second when i'm the leader of the party

but when you present when you produce good things you have to have people that put it into play I understand that. But my fear is that with medical and the dental program is you get a good thing and then you get a liberal government or a conservative government in power and then they chip away at it. They cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. Some people say that's fine, but look at our medical system right now. They cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.

Our medical system is in bad shape, really bad shape. and then they go, well, we have to do a change. Maybe we should look at the American system, which suck. It's horrible. But if it was getting properly funded and not being cut, we'd have probably the best medical system in the world. But here, and even the Fraser Valley Kern did a story showing that the bureaucrats of the Fraser health and the island health and all of those, they'd increased their pay to $2,000 a meeting.

And so to me, it's not just about having enough money. It's about how that money is spent. And I've seen both the province and the federal government not really care about that. They go, we're going to spend $30 billion on new health care. Aren't you excited? And that doesn't really go into how are we going to spend this money. So Canadians can have confidence. That $30 billion should go to be building schools for nurses, schools for doctors,

schools for respiratory therapists, you know. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you I know where all the money is sitting because I never wanted to be a politician a day in my life. But if that is a problem, then we have to rectify that, right? The other parties won't, you know. I think if the NDP, when the NDP eventually gets voted into government federally, you know, there's a fine line that we have to walk. we do have to look at providing good, solid services

and not cutting people's jobs with, does it balance out, right? Because if you bring in, if you start cutting people's jobs and there's no jobs from them that go to like there is today and with Carney's possible, probable, austerity budget that's coming in, he's going to wipe out a whole raft of workers, jobs, in a time where there's no jobs to go to. So before we start cutting people's jobs, let's fix the tax system

so they're not stealing money off of us and steal it off the people that have some to spare. Right. And maybe there is too many bureaucrats. I can tell you, I never really, honestly, I never really paid attention to that part because I know I like my medical system. I know I like the new dental program. I'm lucky enough where I have dental through my heart.

work, but people that don't, they're enjoying it, right? So I'd also like to ask you about unions. I've only been a part of one union in my life. It was the BCGEU. And my frustration was I was so eager as a native court worker to go above and beyond, to do anything I could to help indigenous people out of the system that they were stuck in and to provide more resources. I was willing to travel up to Belabella. I was willing to work with judges to educate them on Gladu. I was willing to do whatever it took to try and make a difference. But from my experience, in speaking with my employer, it was like, well, the union has requirements on how much you pay and we have a ranking system, so you're only going to make X amount over 10 years, and you're not going to have

those opportunities. And I understand that the union came in at that time to support people who were being underpaid and they came in and they organized and they collaborated and they got an increased pay. But then this bureaucracy comes in that really locked us into a system where I couldn't see long-term growth. And I'm just curious, do you see a balance with unions when they're serving a purpose, when they become too bureaucratic? What are your thoughts on the process of unions? Unions are needed everywhere in all aspects of life. And I'll tell you why I know that. And it's just not my opinion, but it's the truth. Because if unions weren't needed to protect workers, the companies out there that we try to organize wouldn't fight so hard

against us. They'd be like, yeah, come on. We're good. And there's employers out there that do, yeah, come on in, Nick. It's fine. We're good. Unions are needed. Yeah, wages is a big part of it, right? But they're also needed to protect workers. I've been lucky I've worked in a unionized environment my entire life except for one job when I was a kid two jobs, sorry. And I won't mention the names of places I worked at,

but the one place I worked at was a nightmare because I was by myself. I got friends on the job on the shop floor. But if something came up, there was no recourse for us. You did something wrong. You're fired. Even if that person didn't do anything wrong,

they were fired and shown the door because there's no recourse there's no collective action capabilities and the more voices that are arguing for something or fighting for something to better everybody's lives benefits pensions

not too many employers out there are going to give workers pensions or RRSPs nowadays unless there's collective action to get it. Some do some good employers do 100% agree with that and so yes there's a place for unions but when unions come through

yes there's a collective agreement in a place and that's the rules of the game right and some people agree with it some people don't there's some things in collective rooms that I don't agree with and I negotiated them it's because that was the deal that I could get that right right and it was the best deal at that time now

being boxed into one spot, yeah, that happens. Then you have to work your way up the system. But with unions, in a perfect world, it's a fair straight across the board system. And I'm not speaking or any union in general. I'm just, because there's so many different collective agreements, so many different unions out there that you can't talk about this union over here and be talking about this union over here because they could be exact polar opposites.

But unions are there to protect the overall, to protect the workers, right? And yeah, there could be times where a worker that should get promoted or wants to do other stuff to better other people's lives might be hamstrung by the collective agreement. In my union, we've had conversations with people that want to go and do a little bit extra. Sometimes in different collective agreements, because we represent a vast variety of collective agreements, that can be worked out between the union and the management. Can we talk about Canada Post? What are your reflections on what's going on with them right now? Canada Post is a company, sorry, a company,

a quasi-crown corporation that keeps rewarding the CEO and their management team for bringing back losses every year. If I did that as a rank-and-file worker, if I was a manager of a pick a restaurant chain, and I come back to the boss every year with not making any money for them, I'm going to be showing the door. But with Canada Post, they get awarded. They get bonuses, they get raises, they get all this fancy stuff. And it's awfully funny that Canada Post owns a company called PURLator. And that company is incredibly profitable.

But yet Canada Post isn't. And it's not about the workers because both companies are unionized. Both companies have good, decent contracts with their workers. but it's something that the government wants to get rid of and isn't afraid of driving into the ground, right? If I was prime minister, you bet that CEO would have been tossed out on his ass probably about two years ago because if you're not performing,

and he's not unionized so I can fire him, I'll fire him. Because if you're running a government, organization, and you're not producing a profit, or if you're not trying to produce a profit, because I don't think these guys are even trying to produce a profit, then see you, there's the door. The person who's the CEO is also a board member for peer or later, if I'm not mistaken, right? 100%. If that's not disgusting, I don't know what is.

How do you think those things come about? It's because in their world, in the ruling class world, I scratch your back, you scratch mine. Yeah, you just come over and sit right here. Like, it's okay, right? That person, the CEO should not be working. Oh, they should not be sitting on the board of here later because those two companies are in. They're a competition with each other.

Like, that guy should be losing his job as CEO because he can't represent, you can't represent mine and your corporation because we own that corporation. You and I do. and every other Canadian in this place. And that guy's going to sit on, as CEO, and he's going to go sit on that private company's board,

that guy should be kicked down the road. Because he's not representing us, and that's his job. Represent us, figure out a way to turn a profit, because it can be profitable. The argument I saw on and about that on the CVC was that it's the amount of letters that are being sent has just obviously not many people are sending letters anymore and that's a huge piece of what Canada Post does in comparison to Purulator delivery of parcels is a very small portion of what

Canada Post does what would you want to see Canada Post become I'm glad you brought that up I send Christmas Christmas parcels or birthday parcels through Canada Post so why is that mutt sitting as a CEO and sitting on the board of Purulator and he's letting more packages go to Purulator, when those packages should be coming to Canada Post. Because it's cheaper to shipping through Canada Post, if I remember correctly. So we can ship packages. Why not? We have the exact same equipment they got.

It's because the CEO and the government want Canada Post to lose money so they make Purulator their number one earner. that's why that guy should be heaved, because they do the exact same thing. Can you walk me through? I understand, you might know this better than me. They were entering negotiations again after being on strike like a year ago. They were in negotiations. Then the Canadian government came in and modified certain legislation to allow for it not to be delivered, I think, five days a week or something like that. That's way out of my...

Way out of my league. All I know is the government did the CUPW, what they did to the flight attendants, to my union, the QP-P-375 in Montreal, to the West Chet Mechanics, to the Teamsters Rail Conference, Section 107 in the mall, right in the middle of bargaining, and they went, we've got to do it for the betterment of Canada. Section 107? Yeah, sorry, Section 107 is a small standalone piece, a legislation in the Labor Code. that gives the minister a labor, omnipotent power. You want to talk about communism?

That's what this legislation is. If you don't like communism, that's what this legislation is, where the minister, by a stroke of a pen, signs his name to a document that strips workers' rights to strike from them. Go on. See you later. And that's been upheld in our charter rights. We have the right to strike.

where what used to happen before, and it was my union that they first did it to back in 2023, what they used to do is they used to create a piece of legislation that forced workers back to work. It would go to the house. All the MPs from all over the land, people that you and I vote for, whether we like them or not, they then have an ability to debate that piece of legislation in the house

and have their constituents' voices heard and then there's a vote there's a bunch of stuff that happens inside of that, but then there's a vote of all of the elected So people know So people are well aware So you and I have a voice

To say, you know what I don't want you to vote for that piece of legislation That's been stripped from Canadians Gone Now somebody that sits as a minister of labor Gets to sign a piece of paper Put their signature on it Now it's over

And nobody gets to say about it and it's garbage. So thankfully, the flight attendants of QP stood up to them and said, we ain't taking it anymore. They didn't do it to the pilots who were vast majority of them are men, but they did it to a workforce, a flight attendants, vast majority of them are sisters. Well, guess what?

Our flight attendants said, enough is enough, we're not taking it anymore. We're going to do it. the old school way. We're going to say, no, we're not going back to work because it's BS. And that's where we are today. Can I also ask about what happened with BC Ferries? This is also a story that's reached the news. BC Ferries ended up giving a contract to a Chinese state-owned facility to manufacture BC

fairies instead of keeping it local. That was backed by my understanding by a federal. loan in order to do that. So we're literally loaning money out to pay Chinese workers to build BC ferries for us. What are your reflections on that story? I'll be polite. This is a travesty of untold levels. BC ferries, any vessel that sails that sails in our water, should be built by Canadians. The parts for those vessels should be built by Canadians. Bold claim.

100%. Down in the United States, the Jones Act, any vessel that sails within the United States waters has to be built in the United States. Why isn't that the same here? You know, like we could have built those ferries in North Vancouver at C-SPAN, yards in Hamilton, if I remember correctly, or even yards on the East Coast.

They got to sail them from China over. We can sail them from the East Coast to Canada over. Pretty easy. I'm not a seat there or far from it. But I'm going to guess it's relatively the same thing. But we didn't or they didn't. And why didn't they do it? Because it's cheaper.

Why do the Canada Infrastructure Bank approve the billion-dollar loan? Because they don't care about us. You see, and that's what the liberals and the conservatives have missed for generations is they've missed the mark. If we created a shipbuilding industry, like C-SPAN has a beautiful shiplet yard in North Vancouver, they have tugboats. They don't even build in their own shipyards. They go overseas, too. It drives my bonkers. So if we create a shipbuilding industry in this country, that then spurs on the steel industry.

That then gives jobs to college students, university students coming out in different degrees, whether it's engineering or drafting. I don't know. I never went to college. I went straight to the docs. But that can spur on such a job force across the country. It'd be incredible. And yet, because it's going to cost a little bit more for Company X, whether it's B.C.

Ferries or C. Spanerring Oil, whoever it is, is going to cost them a little bit. more money, we can't take money out of the pocket of the ruling class. So, you know, we have to let them go outside and we have to screw over every single Canadian that could have a job in those industries. That's why I'm running. One of the other questions I had, and just to preface it, Mark Carney to me is a very interesting individual because we're told as Canadians the central bank and our government are separate. They don't talk to each other. They're completely independent of each other.

And we have this individual in 2008 who leads us through. He's the governor of the Bank of Canada, and he's leading, Mr. Mark Carney. Now he's our prime minister. He's actually held both roles. What are your thoughts on Prime Minister Mark Carney? No more hockey analogies because I'm sick of them. I think he's been prime minister in waiting for decades.

You know, he went to bank account, I went to banking England. He run, what is it called, Brooks Field or wherever the hell it is. He's been a prime minister and waiting forever. He's not a new politician. That guy's dance with the devil more times than anybody can know, right? Dance with the devil, me, dealing with politicians. That's how I'm interpreting that. And so, yeah, he was grew up.

room for this spot. You know, and this whole thing, well, they had to beg me to run. Come on. I think everybody with half a brain knew that he was going to run. He was just waiting for the right time. This is his world. And you bet your donuts that he's dealing with the Bank of Canada. Because according to everybody that voted for him, he's the smartest person.

When it comes to finances in Canada, and yet we've got 7% unemployment rate for adults, and we've got, what, 14% for young ones? That's not somebody that's smart. That's somebody that's dealing in this world for the ruling class, not for people, not for working Canadians, not for your average Joe. And so they don't mind doing good things for their people that have disabilities. When was the last thing they got to raise? I think they live off, and I could be wrong on the number.

They live off $1,600 bucks a month. Something like that, yeah. Who the hell can live off $1,600 a month in this country? Yeah. I don't know one person. And yet they're treated like cattle. No, no, you just sit over there. We're giving you $1,600.

You go live your life. Where are they going to live on the street? That's what people like Kearney and Pahliev and the rest of them do to people that deserve better. And as a society, they're starting to brainwash for us to think that it's okay and it's not okay to treat other people like garbage. And that's what I have to remember is...

I think we have to bring the humanity back to politics. Because we're here to serve... Sorry, I'm getting... We have to serve our... constituents. We're not here to serve corporations. We're not here to serve other governments. We're here to serve Canadians. And if that means

we have to build a Canadian economy with Canadian jobs and Canadian industries, think, God damn it, we have to do it. Because if we're not, we're going to continue to fail. And God knows where this country's going to end up until we change it.

This may not be the question you want to be asked. But what you just said... That's scary. What you just said, sounds like the America first movement going on in the U.S. right now is a Canada first movement. And we've heard echoes of that. So do you differentiate yourself, or is there merits to that argument of we should be putting Canadians... Like, I don't know if you just saw, but recently it just came out again that there was like $11 million going to some bizarro thing out in India for people we don't know.

and we're giving away money to people, millions of dollars. And when we look at some of the things we're spending it on, Canadians are like, how hell are we doing? Like, our own stuff isn't working. So is there a Canada first movement rising in the NDP? I don't know if I classified as Canada first. Like, definitely, Canadian jobs, Canadian industries, 100%. You know, I've always considered myself to live.

by what I desire for myself, I desire for others. And there's definitely countries out there that need a helping hand. 100% there is. And there's no shame in wanting to help somebody. There's no shame in wanting to help people of another country. It's because that's who we are. But I think people get angry about that because we don't have what we should have in this here.

We don't have jobs. You send somebody to college or university. They spend tens of thousands of dollars to go to university, plus tens of thousands of dollars possibly in credit card debt, paying for stuff to live. And they come on and there's no jobs for them. so that's an inherent problem so I don't want to classify as

Canada first what I like to classify it as and people are saying well you're still saying Canada first but in a different way which hell I don't know maybe I am I want to create a Canadian economy that Canadians can support so that when Canadians on a Friday night, they want to go for a beer,

they want to go watch a movie at a movie theater, they don't have to count their pocket change. They got their money to do that. They want to go on vacation, go on vacation. Right. And an NDP government under me will understand that, that we have to have jobs, we have to have industries that can support themselves with other Canadian industries.

as well as helping out people that are in need. Because as a Canadian, that's how I was raised. I was raised to put your hand out to help lift somebody up. Whether that is in pick a country, or it's that person down the road, or if you see that poor bugger that's down in his luck, go buying some Timmy's or give him a buck or five bucks or whatever you got.

That's my Canada, because we're not afraid to have a gentle side. That we understand the plate of people. But we have to make sure that we have good industries and good jobs so that we can afford to help other people. You've had the opportunity to start meeting with, I imagine, a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life. And I think one of the most important pieces that I get to hear about when I speak to politicians is what are they hearing?

Because people share with you in the hopes that you'll be able to be in a position to make changes, to improve their quality of life. Can you tell me what you're hearing when you're meeting with people? What are their stories? Yeah, you bet. Well, the disability payments, I talked to a few people, and it's not enough money. I don't know money to live on and we need to invest

in more money for people with disabilities and we shouldn't cut if somebody's got private insurance that they paid for their whole life and then they get the disability pension from the government one shouldn't wipe out the other because

you still can't pay for anything I had the pleasure of talking to when I started getting like social like before I launched, the social media was running rampant with the rumors. And when I was in Ottawa for work meetings, I was reached out to by a couple of University of Ottawa students. And this is where I started to learn about how much it costs to go to school.

And I'm not an idiot. I knew it cost a lot of money. But I didn't actually realize that a lot of these guys, these university students, these college students, can't find a job to help them. when they're going to school so they're paying for everything on credit and then when they leave school they can't find a job in what they went to school for and our whole eyes were told go to school but there's nothing there I've heard a lot of anger

I've heard a lot of discussions about about some major projects that are going through that the federal government wants to be able to ram down people's throats whether the community doesn't agree with it, whether the indigenous nations that it goes to their territory doesn't agree with it, but they still want to do it for Canada first, in quotations. There's a lot of people feeling ignored.

There's a lot of people feeling left out of the equation. And they shouldn't feel like that. Yeah, there's going to be angry people. or people that don't agree with stuff that happens. I've been a union leader for president in my union for 10 years. I know people that sometimes feel grumpy with some of the decisions that our union makes. But they're frustrated. You know, frustrated with a faulty medical system that's been cut, cut, cut.

And now we just put bandies on it. We have to invest. Lack of nurses. Build nursing schools. That puts Canadian trades to work. lack of doctors doctor schools you know there's so many things at the tip of our hands that can make people's lives better and we just don't do it as a nation some provinces do right like wab canoe in manitoba holy crap that's a guy that i wanted to run for leader of the federal party

i'd vote for wab every day of the year what do you like about him because he's a guy that i wanted to run for leader of the federal party I'd vote for Wob Every day of the year What do you like about him? Because there's no BS He's straightforward He's proud of who he is Proud of where he comes from

Proud of Manitobans He wants to do better for them He wants them healthy He wants them to have jobs What's not to like about the guy And I love his videos When he's singing And he's proud to sing at press conferences

like he's just friggin' awesome like that's somebody that I look up to and that's the type of leader that I hope to be able to be like somebody that just does it because he loves everybody and he wants to lift them up you've been commented on after some of the videos you've dropped as being very similar or having echoes

of Jack Clayton, what does that mean to you? Yeah. Goose bumps. I guess I got him right now. I think Jack Clayton was very special. I think he was something that our country needed and see what happened. I don't think, I really don't think they'll ever be another Jack in this life. And anybody that says that they are the next Jack Layton, not they're worth the time.

And somebody mentions that to me, that, like I had one person say that I had a soft face like Jack. That I carried myself like Jack and then all the comments on social media. I'll never be Jack Layton. Nobody will ever be Jack Layton. It's incredibly humbling Because Jack did amazing things the short time that we had them

and if we had them for just a little bit longer Fuck This country could have been so much better So yeah So when people say that It's incredibly humbling I thank them And when I win leadership on March 20th night

I really hope I don't do them at the service What are you fighting for? Man, Aaron, you're making me all upset now. Fucking guy. I'm not an angry person. I'm a passionate person. And I'm emotional. I blame my daughters.

What am I fighting for? I'm fighting for people to be able to live in dignity. I'm fighting for Canadians. I'm fighting for Canadians to be able not to hate people because they're different. I'm fighting for Canadians to be understanding of each other. I'm fighting for Canadians to have a job, one job, that lets them live. And I'm fighting to get rid of the lies and the BS that happens in Ottawa so much.

That's what I'm fighting for. What's standing in your way? Can you walk us through the electoral process that you're about to fight through how you're different than some of your comrades advocating for their role? And how do you reach that finish line? So the structure that we're going through right now is, and it's a simple structure, is you have to raise a lot of money. How much? The initial buy-ins $100,000.

But then you have to pay for your campaign after that. And it's $600,000 to run a good cross-country campaign, so you actually get to as many places as you can and talk to as many people as you can. And that's one of the hardest parts for me personally is saying, hey, Aaron, do you got 20 bucks for me? Because I know what people, lives are like, a lot of people's lives are like, they don't have that 20 bucks, they don't have that 100 bucks. Most people definitely don't have the max, 1750. But I think the message to those people is that if they donate, I'll honor their money, I'll do the best I can for them. and I'll fight like hell for them. And the other part of it is sign-ups.

And so for, I think, every political party, but I'll talk about the NDP because that's the only party I know. I don't pay attention to the rest of them. You've got to get people to sign membership cards because it's only members of the party that are allowed to vote in the party election. And so we have to sign up tens of thousands of people before January 28, I believe.

so that they can vote in the election, right, giving people their voice that they want to lead the party. And so, yeah, that is, those are the two number one tasks right now and goals, is to talk to people, meet people, and say, look, if you like me, help me represent you. Are you a member of the NDP? Yeah, thank you. I hope you can support me. And can you kick me a little bit of cash. And if they're not a member of the party,

would you mind signing up to the party and supporting me that way to vote for me? And you might give me a little cash. Now, for everybody that is running, I think this is a really good field of candidates. And we all kind of have our own little niche markets, right? And I'm not going to get into a whole deep conversation about my fellow candidates, because there's a few of them, right? And they all bring something, we all bring

something different. I'm the working class candidate who wears work boots every single day in my life. Sometimes they wear sneakers, not too often, though. Heather, and NDPMP in Edmonton. Abby Lewis, filmmaker. I've worked for CBC for a long time. Tony McHale, I think he's a farmer out Ontario. Teneal Johnston, North Vancouver Island. I will say something about her.

I didn't know, like I knew she ran the last election. Something special about her. We talked for the first time, pre-announcement for me, talked for an hour. So he's a talk to her. Indigenous sister. Should have won her election by a landslide. She's like a thousand times better than the person that won. Strong advocate for her beliefs.

Just the really, she's in it for the right reasons. Like, there was a question asked to all of us about, can we all speak French? Abby spoke a bit of French. Heather spoke a bit of French. My French, I didn't ever think I was going to be a politician, right? And I've tried here and there throughout my life, but just never caught onto it. But when I decided to run, I started investing my own money into learning. and I plan on moving to Quebec for a week or two,

take a submersive course. And then Tineal answered. And it was probably the most amazing answer I've heard. And I'm not going to quote her, but she's learning her nation's language. And there's so many indigenous language that we lose in this country. Yeah, she wants to learn French, but she also wants to learn the language of her people, right, of her nation.

And that's got to say some about somebody. And she appreciated the way Francophones carried on their culture and carried on their language over the 100 plus, 150 plus 200 years that Canada was colonized. but the way she delivered with the grace, and she was on Zoom, it's hard to deliver Grace over Zoom. There's something special about it. Is there any risk that the party stays on the track you mentioned of going to middle ground from your perspective? Or do you consider that not a risk?

I guess that question, I guess that question will be answered if we stay that path in the next election. I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know. There's a whole bunch of weird stuff that happened this election. Like anybody but Pierre type of thing. And old Carney is the new shiny piece of tinfoil over here,

so we're going to go for that person because he's not a politician. At the end of the day, day, if we stayed on this road and we don't go back to our roots, which is everyday Canadians and fighting for them on our terms, bill by bill, if we stayed on this path where we are now, we'll find out when the government falls. It could be sooner rather than later. Is there any questions I haven't asked you or any message you want to leave?

with listeners today. Be kind to each other. Is there's too much hate in this world? There's too much division in this world, and division is only the weapon of the boss. Unity is our weapon against them. If somebody tells you that your life is worse because of that person that doesn't look like you,

that's not why your life is worse. Your life is worse is because the ruling class is ruling this country. So be kind. Show that it's OK to be a 49-year-old white guy. with more gray, well, we've had gray for a long time. That it's okay to sit on a podcast that's going up on YouTube and show a little bit in motion. Because it's okay.

And it's okay to be hurt. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to be angry. But together, together, together we can change this country. And when we change this country, we can show the world that we can do it on love, kindness, and supporting each other. And we can hopefully change the world to be a better place. I think that's the message that I'll leave you on. How can people follow your work?

Robashen.com.ca. I'm Rob the Longshoreman on Instagram, Twitter, Reddit. I'm probably missing 76 other social media platforms. and just plain old Rob Ashton on Facebook. And I think there's a Rob Ashton, Longsharman account on Facebook, too. Rob, thank you so much for being willing to do this. I'm sure your schedule is getting more and more busy. So I'm very grateful you're willing to take the time and share your insights on so many issues.

Anytime, my friend. Full call away. Beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.