Rivals get serious about NDP threat as Mulcair climbs in pol

[Oscar]

Rivals get serious about NDP threat as Mulcair climbs in polls

[ http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comme ... s-in-polls ]

John Ivison | June 11, 2015 6:56 PM ET

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair can expect to soon be the target of Conservative and Liberal attacks, John Ivison writes.

If you believe the latest polls, Tom Mulcair is on course to be the next prime minister of Canada. His party has edged into a slim lead and his approval rating of plus 34 per cent is the converse of the opprobrium in which Stephen Harper appears to be held.

Mulcair has portrayed himself as a crusader for change in Ottawa, fighting the “old-line parties” with the sword of truth and trusty shield of fair play.

The Conservatives and Liberals have barely landed a blow on the New Democratic Party leader, given their fixation on each other, but that might be about to change.

Alarm at polling that shows the NDP not only in the lead but also first among second choices (suggesting room for further growth) has stirred the other parties into action.

The Conservatives have gathered plenty of ammunition on Mulcair and are said to be preparing to lob it in his direction before too long. They are expected to suggest that, far from being an agent of change, he is a grubby, old-style brokerage politician, who is short on principles and long on ambition.

No-one from the Conservative campaign was talking, but it is understood they may wheel out old claims that Mulcair had detailed discussions with the Harper government about joining it in some capacity.

There is some truth to this. Back in 2012, I wrote a story that he would have joined the Conservatives in 2007, if they had agreed to his demands for a cabinet seat.

Mulcair called the claims “patently false,” but acknowledged he had talked to the Conservatives (and Liberals and Greens) before opting to join the NDP, after he quit Jean Charest’s provincial government in Quebec City. He said he turned down jobs as head of a federal agency on the environment and a senior adviser because he would have had to endorse the Conservative position on the Kyoto Protocol.

However, Conservatives remember things differently — and are said to have the paperwork to prove it. Negotiations broke down over money and rank, according to their sources.

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