NDP leadership race: Brian Topp or Thomas Mulcair?

Brian Topp or Thomas Mulcair?

The NDP leadership race may come down to that, but these sorts of things do not always turn out as expected.
In six months, the New Democratic Party will choose its next leader. As is often the case this early in a leadership race, identifying the likely winner is a mug’s game.

Brian Topp, the NDP’s president, is the only officially declared candidate, but Thomas Mulcair, one of two deputy leaders and the only NDP Quebec MP to have been elected prior to 2011, is almost certainly going to throw his hat in the ring as well. They are, at this stage, the frontrunners.

Mulcair is the NDP’s most well-known figure in Quebec and was an important part of the party’s success in that province. He has won three elections in his Montreal riding of Outremont, and was a cabinet minister in Jean Charest’s provincial Liberal government before entering federal politics.

Topp, however, seems to have the backing of the party brass. He recently received a high-profile endorsement from Ed Broadbent, former leader of the party and, before Jack Layton, their most successful. Fluently bilingual (and not just passably so), Topp can communicate with the NDP’s massive Quebec caucus and the party’s new supporters in the province and is only limited by his much lower profile in Quebec.

You can read the rest of the article at The Huffington Post Canada website here.

Five provinces with a combined population of 16.2 million people are heading to the polls in a matter of weeks, and no poll since Tuesday?

I know that we'll see some polls out of PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador before their campaigns end, but I'm shocked that there hasn't been anything out of Manitoba since June. The last poll had Tories and the NDP tied - tied! - and no one has ordered another poll to see what is going on. Come on, Manitoba! I know you have the Jets back, but focus!