NDP leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair (Outremont) will touch down in Penticton on Monday, March 12 for a lunch with party members and those curious about his campaign.
The only candidate to run with executive experience in government, Mulcair is proposing change on several policy fronts like consumer protection, economic leadership, housing, First Nations and retirement income. His bid is backed by the likes of former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt and former Kelowna NDP candidate and provincial party vice-president Tish Lakes.
Born in Ottawa in 1954 and raised in Quebec, Mulcair graduated from McGill University in 1977 with degrees in common law and civil law.
He entered Quebec provincial politics running in 1994 for the Liberal party where he won the riding of Chomedey. He was re-elected in 1998 and served as deputy house leader of the opposition. In 2003, he was again re-elected and named to cabinet as minister of sustainable development, environment and parks. In 2004, Mulcair launched Quebec’s Sustainable Development Plan and embarked on a 21-city public consultation tour. The act was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec in 2006.
Mulcair left provincial politics in 2006, but later that year, federal NDP leader Jack Layton invited Mulcair to address delegates at the party’s convention on the subject of sustainable development. The following year, Mulcair announced he would be running for the New Democratic Party in the next federal election.
Layton named Mulcair as his Quebec Lieutenant and after his 2007 byelection victory in the Liberal stronghold of Outremont, he was also named co-deputy leader of the NDP. Mulcair became only the second NDP Member of Parliament ever elected from Quebec.
Seven candidates are vying to succeed Layton, who died Aug. 22. The leadership vote will take place on Saturday, March 24, 2012 in Toronto.
Mulcair’s appearance in the South Okanagan marks the second NDP leadership candidate to visit the Okangan-Coquihalla riding since Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) gave his presentation about bipartisan politics in January.
The lunch will be held at the Hooded Merganser Bar and Grill at the Penticton Lakeside Resort, 21 Lakeshore Dr. It will begin at noon, and the no-host event is open to the public. For information about Mulcair, visit www.thomasmulcair.ca.