Rob Ashton

Ashton worked as a longshore worker for decades and rose through union ranks, including service as a business agent for ILWU Local 500 and later as vice president of ILWU Canada, before being elected president in 2016. In testimony to the House of Commons in 2024, he described ILWU Canada as representing roughly 16,000 workers across British Columbia and Saskatchewan.^[3][4][5]

On October 1, 2025, Ashton launched his campaign for the federal NDP leadership, positioning himself as a "working-class" candidate focused on affordability, labour rights, and rebuilding domestic industry, including Canadian shipbuilding.^[1][4] He has argued the party should "put workers back in charge" and increase taxes on the wealthy.^{[6][2][7][8][9][10][11]} In interviews and campaign materials, Ashton has emphasized re-centring the NDP on its labour base, taxing the wealthy, and expanding good-paying jobs in domestic industries such as shipbuilding.^[1][6][2] During the campaign, Ashton criticized fellow candidate Avi Lewis, stating that his style of leadership would "divide" the party.^[12] On January 12, 2026, Ashton apologized for using generative artificial intelligence to respond to questions in a Reddit AMA, explaining that he had been on the road and had asked staffers to draft answers for him to review, but he had not been able to review all the answers.^[13]