Mulcair is comfortable on the fence

I share in CalgaryGrit’s confusion at Thomas Mulcair’s continued ambivalence about deciding whether to run for the NDP leadership.

Perhaps he’s hoping to drag out the media coverage as he hums and haws over his chances of winning, allowing him to increase his national reputation as… someone who can’t make a decision?

Regardless, his current excuse is that there’s no Quebec NDP wing, so he doesn’t have the membership to compete (because apparently the only constituency he wants to go after is Quebec) with BC or Ontario NDP members. This of course brings me back to a question of why is there no Quebec NDP anymore?

I understand the historic reasons, but in light of the federal swing in May, and the collapse of the Parti Quebecois, there may be a desire (or at least room) for a strong federalist and progressive voice in the province. Of course, I’m not very in touch with Quebec politics, so the reasons may be more obscure than that, but even every other province has maintained a provincial wing, even when they don’t win any seats.

Perhaps Mulcair is just trying to leverage the party to start a Quebec wing. I’d even suggest he might eye that party leadership, except he seemed quite comfortable as a Liberal cabinet minister.

I still can’t help but wonder what he has to lose by running. Is his ego so soft he couldn’t take a defeat or has he burnt bridges with the other candidates which might weaken his position in the party if he challenges them? Maybe the party brass is strongly opposed to his running so he’s finding excuses? I really don’t know.

Even if he ran and lost, as we have learned from the recent history of the Liberal Party, even the losers of a leadership race can still get to lead the party in due time.