When New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair was on Tom Clark’s West Block show on Global this Sunday, the wife remarked that the Opposition leader seemed to be testing campaign lines for 2015. He was. Tom Clark even thanked Mulcair for the preview. The only problem for Mulcair is that the lines he was using were obvious losers.
While much is made by the news media of the fine prosecutorial role Mulcair has performed in the House of Commons over the Nigel Wright-Mike Duffy affair, it is not coming through to voters. If we are ever foolish enough to elect crown prosecutors in this country, Thomas Mulcair would certainly be recommended. His dual Canadian-French citizenship might not be a factor in that job but Canadians have a right to expect their Prime Ministers to be solely loyal to Canada.
The lines Mulcair was feeding the viewers about the corruption of the Conservative government and the past corruption within the Quebec Liberal Party are not going to fly in 2015. So far, the ‘robo-call’ scandals in the last election appear to be isolated and ill-organized. Tarnishing an entire party with that or even the Senate scandal, is unlikely. And Justin Trudeau, as Liberal leader, has no connection with past political shenanigans in Quebec. Mulcair’s accusations were vague, all encompassing and did not connect.
The effort he put into the fact that the New Democrats are now the official opposition seemed to be where he feels his key strength lies. He seems to ignore the accidental MPs created by the so-called ‘Orange Wave’ in Quebec that was nothing more than the final collapse of the Bloc Québécois.
It should also be noted that Justin Trudeau will do more to restore some honestly among Quebec Liberals by demanding democratic selection of candidates in the 2015 election run-up. Mulcair not only brings a far less democratic approach to New Democrat party selections but his history in Quebec provincial politics will be a handicap, not a hand-up.
The one thing for sure is that Thomas Mulcair cannot pull off the bare-faced naïveté of Jack Layton. There is no ready acceptance or appeal for Mulcair. He has to find a rational reason for him to be Prime Minister of Canada. For the life of us, we cannot think of one.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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