Prince George, B.C. – Thomas Mulcair wants to be the next leader of the Federal New Democrats.

 

He is the second leadership hopeful to bring his case to Prince George in the past week as Skeena-Bulkley MP Nathan Cullen was here last Monday.

 

Although he lives in Quebec and represents the Quebec riding of Outremont, Mulcair has a Prince George connection. His Aunt , Monique Wyse, has lived in Prince George for the past 40 years. She is also Mulcair’s Godmother.

 

But today was not only a chance to visit with family, it was an opportunity for Mulcair to meet and greet with card carrying New Democrats who could decide if he will be the next leader of the party. That decision is to be made March 24^th in Toronto, and Mulcair is said to be a favourite among decided leadership convention goers.

 

He has been criss-crossing the country “It is always exciting to be visiting places outside the main metropolitan areas of B.C. because it is such an important province for all of the leadership candidates” says Mulcair. “It is the province with the highest (party) membership” says Mulcair, “So you can expect to see a lot of us.”

 

He says this visit is about listening to what the people identify as their concerns “I met with some representatives of the Steelworkers who are still very concerned about the export of raw logs, something that we banned in Quebec for example to make sure we add the value there. It is a recurring problem in Canada whether it’s fish that’s being flash frozen and sent to China for processing, raw logs that are being sent without adding any jobs or value here or Keystone XL which exports raw bitumen which has the jobs created in the United States instead of having them created here.”

 

That export of bitumen brought to mind the “other”pipeline project which will see its environmental assessment hearings start tomorrow.  He says the Enbridge Northern Gateway project is “an incredible mistake. The danger posed to the extremely fragile eco-systems on the coast of British Columbia dictates against the installation of that pipeline.” He points to the historic spill of the Exxon Valdez off the coast of Alaska which continues to have environmental impact today. “The eco-systems are fragile. In addition, a lot of the first Nations have indicated very clearly it is not on as far as they’re concerned and the Supreme Court of Canada has on several occasions repeated the First Nations have to be consulted in a very real way in this type of development. I’m quite convinced this one  (pipeline) will never see the light of day and that’s a good thing.”  

 

So what does Mulcair bring to the leadership race that sets him apart from the other 7 candidates? In a word, experience. He was Quebec’s Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks while a member of the Quebec National Assembly in the Liberal Government of Jean Charest. After being elected as a New Democrat M.P. in Quebec he was named Deputy Party Leader (alongside Libby Davies) and last May was named the Opposition House Leader.