CFN – NDP Deputy leader and the man most likely to become the leader of the party, Outremont MP Thomas Mulcair has been busy as he heads for the leadership convention in Vancouver. Here are several reports.
Today British Columbia MLA Claire Trevena, North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto and several other prominent New Democrats threw their support behind NDP Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair in his bid to become the next Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada.
New Democrats including former cabinet minister and MLA for Cariboo South David Zirnhelt, former MP for Kootenay West–Revelstoke Lyle Kristiansen, four-time MLA for Esquimalt–Port Renfrew Frank Mitchell, North Vancouver city councillor and former BC NDP leadership candidate Craig Keating, Burnaby city councillor Nick Volkow, Simon Fraser University professor Allen Seager and seniors’ rights activist Art Kube declared their support for Mr. Mulcair after his performance in the all candidates town hall at the BC NDP’s 50th Anniversary Convention in Vancouver.
Claire Trevena, the BC MLA for North Island, stated “Thomas Mulcair has a proven track record reaching out to people who haven’t voted for us in the past. That’s what we need to do to beat Stephen Harper and form the next government. I am pleased to be the first of many British Columbia MLAs to endorse Tom.”
“I’ve been very impressed watching Thomas Mulcair the past five years and meeting with him this week. I am glad to endorse him as our candidate for Prime Minister”, said Mayor Mussatto. “Watching him on stage, with our eight other great candidates, it was clear to me he’s the leader who can take us to the next level,” added councillor Keating.
“I’ve had the chance to get to know Mr. Mulcair’s record on the environment, his record as a cabinet minister and his record standing up for the public interest rather than the well-connected,” said David Zirnhelt from Williams Lake, BC. “That’s what our party is all about.”
Thomas Mulcair picked up the support at the end of a five day tour of Western Canada that followed his commanding performance at the first NDP Leadership debate and that also saw him gain endorsements from Manitoba’s first NDP Premier and former Governor General Ed Schreyer as well as Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist Professor Andrew Weaver. The BC leg of Mr. Mulcair’s tour included events in Burnaby, Roberts Creek and at the BC NDP’s 50th Anniversary Convention in Vancouver.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKjKHNiHczA&feature=related
Thomas Mulcair, Deputy Leader of the NDP and candidate in the NDP leadership race, announced a new comprehensive plan to combat climate change today, alongside Professor Andrew Weaver, a lead author of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Mulcair proposed a new “comprehensive cap and trade plan” that would build on the popular proposal New Democrats campaigned on during the last election under the leadership of Jack Layton.
“Stephen Harper has let the climate change crisis get worse. His inaction is leaving a huge ecological debt in the backpacks of future generations,” explained Mr. Mulcair. “With every day that we wait, the cost of our failure to address climate change grows greater.”
Mulcair’s new plan would still be industry-focused and based on the principle that “polluters pay”, but it would expand beyond the 700 largest emitters in Canada to cover all major sources of climate change pollution. This new plan would also cap climate change pollution at the source and avoid complicated monitoring systems that are prone to loopholes.
“While we can’t expect individuals, family farmers and small businesses to pay the price for cleaning up a mess they didn’t create, we can no longer afford to focus only on the worst of the worst,” Mulcair said.
Andrew Weaver congratulated Mr. Mulcair on his new plan and endorsed Mulcair’s bid to become the next leader of the NDP: “Canada needs a Prime Minister who recognizes that a healthy economy does not have to come at the expense of a healthy environment. In my considered assessment, Thomas Mulcair is ideally suited for the task.”
Professor Weaver holds the Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he was a lead author of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
This policy announcement was made as part of Mr. Mulcair’s post-debate tour of Western Canada and builds on the momentum he gained from a commanding performance in the NDP Leadership Debate on December 4th and following the high profile endorsement of former Governor General of Canada and former Premier of Manitoba, Ed Schreyer, in Winnipeg yesterday.
What do you think Canada? Will Mr. Mulcair win the leadership of the NDP? You can post your comment below and vote in our poll.
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Has presence, speaks well, addresses urgent issues, and has endorsements from a Nobel Laureate and a former Governor-General. Cheering news for Canada.
Is also reputed to have a short fuse. A troubling trait? Or impatience with ditherers combined with royal jelly to take on the party of ignorance and contempt?
Litmus test: Is he a force for unity? The country has had more than enough of the divide-and-rule tactics of the leader of ignorance and contempt.