Earth calling Conservative-leaning commentators: You guys may have amnesia — Canadians don’t.

Case in point: The meltdown among Conservative supporters when Niki Ashton, the NDP MP for the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, travelled to the U.S. to campaign for Bernie Sanders — the relentless septuagenarian seeking the democratic presidential nomination who seems not to have noticed that Clinton Inc. has driven a wooden stake through his heart.

Ashton was hardly concealing her plan to boost Bernie. She tweeted on June 5 that she was “off to North Dakota to campaign for @BernieSanders! We #FeelTheBern!” Ashton spent a few hours in Fargo (the town that gave its name to a cult movie) visiting Bernie’s campaign office and talking to his supporters.

Okey-dokey. But what (Conservative supporters wanted to know) was a Canadian MP doing knocking on doors with campaign workers stumping for a U.S. presidential candidate? Ashton told CBC that Sanders embodied the NDP’s own leftist politics. “I believe we can learn from the kind of work that they’re doing, the bold ideas they’re putting forward, the ways in which they’re engaging and inspiring people.”

Still, those on the blue end of the political spectrum fumed. The House of Commons was sitting and there was very important legislation hanging by a thread in the Senate, from the assisted dying bill to the RCMP union debate. So what was Ashton doing in Fargo?

For the most part, Ashton parried the blows skillfully. She explained that she paid for her own trip and that the House does not sit on Sundays — the day she was in Fargo. She was back in Ottawa on Monday in time for question period. She told the National Post that she found many similarities between North Dakota and her riding in Manitoba. Her father Steve Ashton went with her. (The former NDP MLA has time on his hands since losing the seat he has held since 1981 in the recent Manitoba provincial election that saw the Progressive Conservatives win a majority.)

Ashton herself finished last in a field of seven leadership candidates in the 2012 leadership race that Tom Mulcair won on the fourth ballot. But she got noticed as a potential future party star. Since then, Ashton has remained principled but not pushy. She did not speak against Mulcair before the NDP leadership convention in April 2016, nor did she publicly support him. She supports the caucus decision to keep Mulcair on as leader until the Fall 2017 convention. People have been encouraging Ashton to run and she appears to be listening with at least one ear.

Ashton is an astute politician. With Nathan Cullen, Megan Leslie and Brian Topp so far ruling out leadership runs, she may sense an opportunity. And there may be no better way for her to send her message to younger NDP voters than shooting out a tweet showing her and her Dad wearing “Bernie for President” T-shirts.

After all, those young voters are part of the same demographic that is supporting Sanders so passionately stateside, despite the dead-end math of the contest with Hillary Clinton. Ashton believes the NDP needs to move back from the centre to the left (an irrefutable proposition for anyone who wants the party to retain a credible raison d’être) and focus on social and economic justice. Taking a page (ironically) from the Donald Trump playbook, she managed to get a lot of free media attention with her bold, if somewhat controversial, Bernie-boosting.

But Ashton’s participation in a U.S. election got up the noses of Conservative supporters. Many of them wondered if it was even legal.

It was. Since Ashton did not donate to the Sanders campaign and paid her own expenses, her trip complies with the regulations of the U.S. Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) on foreign nationals: “The Act prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly, or indirectly.”

Here’s what the FECA has to say about volunteer activity: ”Generally, an individual may volunteer personal services to a federal candidate or federal political committee without making a contribution.” The Act provides a volunteer “exemption” as long as no one compensates the individual.

Not only did 16 Conservative federal candidates use an American firm in their 2011 election campaigns, two of them — Rick Dykstra and Julian Fantino — had American representatives of the firm actually knocking on doors for them. Not only did 16 Conservative federal candidates use an American firm in their 2011 election campaigns, two of them — Rick Dykstra and Julian Fantino — had American representatives of the firm actually knocking on doors for them.

Stephen Harper obviously read the U.S. Federal Election Campaign Act. When Harper recently spoke to top Republican Party donors at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in April in Las Vegas — while he was a sitting MP, mind you — he was the guest of Sheldon Adelson, one of the richest men in the world. This was Harper’s second visit to Las Vegas since losing the October 15 federal election.

According to the website Politico, Harper spoke to the RJC about how to unite divided political parties — a timely subject given the schism in the Republican Party triggered by Donald Trump becoming the presidential nominee of the GOP with a platform light-years to the right of the Tea Party.

Just how political was the event Harper attended in Las Vegas? You be the judge. Harper’s old advisor, American political guru Arthur Finkelstein — the guy who taught the National Citizens Coalition the art of the political attack ad — was in attendance. Trump himself was invited to speak at the RJC gathering where Harper spoke, although the GOP’s answer to Elmer Gantry declined to attend. Adelson has pledged $100 million to get Trump and other Republicans elected, and Trump in turn has renounced his earlier position of neutrality in the Israeli/Palestinian standoff. He now not only supports Israel’s illegal settlements, he favors their expansion.

According to Politico, Trump’s two top aides had been approached by the RJC’s executive director, Matt Brooks, to secure his appearance. A poll done by Finkelstein, presented during a RJC board meeting, showed that Trump had low approval numbers among American Jews.

Harper himself tweeted that he was in Las Vegas to support Israel — a handy way of denying he was there providing the campaigning Republican Party with political advice during a presidential election year. He wrote on April 10, 2016: “Thanks all for a great weekend in support of Israel.” Influential American Rabbi Shmuel “Shmuley” Boteach tweeted photos of Harper at the event, with the caption, “The Jewish community and @RJC honoring the great prime minister of Canada Stephen Harper – a great friend of Israel.”

There are three different stories to account for the former PM’s second trip to Las Vegas: Harper was advising a Republican fundraising group on how to unite their divided party, or he was there “exclusively “ to support Israel, or (if you don’t like either of those narratives) the RJC was honoring the former prime minister. Which was true? Perhaps all three. While in office, Harper behaved exactly like a northern Republican.

Harper’s spokesperson told the Huffington Post that the former PM’s participation in the event should be viewed “exclusively” as an expression of his continuing support for Israel, that he was not paid to attend the event, not compensated for speaking. Same old Harper — telling multiple stories on how people should view his activities before finally settling on the most self-serving explanation. It was all a little like Duffygate.

Although it was true that the former PM was not paid to speak, the RJC did pay Harper’s transportation costs ($1,838.92) and his expenses for a three night stay ($2,122.03). Ashton, you’ll remember, paid her own way to North Dakota.

If Conservative commentators and supporters are worried about Ashton not fulfilling her duties as an MP while she’s off on other frolics, they should look a little closer to home. Harper collects his MP salary of $167,400 even though he has not participated in debate in the House of Commons since he lost power, and only shows up in Parliament to vote. Besides catching the odd matinee, or browsing in the business book section at Chapters, he has found time to join the Ranchmen’s Club of Calgary and the Calgary Petroleum Club, where he will rub shoulders with his favorite people — oil executives.

Harper has earned over four million dollars from taxpayers so far, has had free transportation and has stayed in some pretty nice public housing. If he lives to an average age, he will receive almost $10 million from taxpayers, according to the Huffington Post.

In addition to all that, he’ll soon be one of the “pension porkers” he railed against while he was head of the National Citizens Coalition. Harper will receive an annual pension of about $120,000 when he retires this year. I guess “the bad man” does have a sense of humor after all.

And here is one more embarrassing matter Conservatives must address if they want to attack Ashton for getting involved in the U.S. presidential election. Not only did 16 Conservative federal candidates use an American firm, Front Porch Strategies, in their 2011 election campaigns, two of them — Rick Dykstra and Julian Fantino — had American representatives of the firm actually knocking on doors for them.

Here is what Jim Ross, who managed Dykstra’s campaign, told the Vancouver Observer about American direct participation in a Canadian federal election:

“… They were in Ontario for roughly a day and a half … They knocked on doors for roughly an hour with Rick, traditionally canvassing to identify support. While waiting for a delayed meeting, they made roughly thirty minutes worth of phone calls for Minister Fantino, again to identify support.”

So what we have is a Canadian MP knocking on doors for an American candidate, and American political consultants knocking on doors for Canadian MPs and cabinet ministers. Hmmmm.

There’s not much moral high ground available to the pot calling the kettle black.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.