Thomas Mulcair

Thomas Joseph Mulcair PC (born October 24, 1954) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2012 to 2017 and leader of the Official Opposition from 2012 to 2015. He was elected to the House of Commons in 2007 and sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Outremont until 2018.

Mulcair was a senior civil servant in the Quebec provincial government, ran a private law practice, and taught law at the university level. Mulcair joined the federal NDP in 1974 and was the provincial member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Chomedey in Laval from 1994 to 2007, holding the seat for the Quebec Liberal Party. He served as the minister of sustainable development, environment and parks from 2003 until 2006, in the Liberal government of Premier Jean Charest. Elected MP for Outremont in a by-election in 2007, he was named co-deputy leader of the NDP shortly afterwards, and won re-election to his seat three times. On May 26, 2011, he was named the New Democratic Party's Opposition house leader and also served as the NDP's Quebec lieutenant.

Mulcair was elected as the leader of the NDP on the fourth ballot of the 2012 leadership election. The NDP having the second largest caucus in the House of Commons, Mulcair became the leader of the Official Opposition. As leader, he took the NDP to the centre. Though polls early in the 2015 federal election campaign indicated the possibility of an NDP minority government, the party lost just over half of its seats and resumed third-place status. During a leadership review vote, held at the 2016 federal NDP convention, 52 per cent of the delegates voted to hold a leadership election in October 2017. Mulcair stated he would remain leader until the party chose a replacement. Mulcair later announced in May 2016 that he would retire from politics, and would not contest his riding in the next federal election. He resigned his seat on August 3, 2018, in order to accept a position in the political science department of the University of Montreal. He has also been hired as an on-air political analyst for CJAD, CTV News Channel, and TVA.

Thomas Joseph Mulcair was born in October 24, 1954, at the Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. His parents lived in the Wrightville district of Hull (now Gatineau) at the time.

His father, Harry Donnelly Mulcair, worked in insurance and was the descendant of Irish immigrants who arrived in the Quebec City area during Great Famine (Ireland) of the 1840s. His paternal grandfather moved to Montreal to become a tailor. His mother, Jeanne Hurtubise, a school teacher, was French Canadian and the great-granddaughter of Quebec Premiers Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau and Honoré Mercier. Her father was a businessman and the founding mayor of Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal, where she met her husband in 1948.

The Mulcairs soon moved to the middle-class district of Chomedey in Laval, a suburb of Montreal, where Thomas would grow up as the second-eldest in a close-knit family of ten children. It was a bilingual, Catholic household where children were educated in English and French Catholic schools, although the family stopped attending Mass over a disagreement with the parish priest about birth control. Both parents were supporters of the Quebec Liberal Party. Mulcair went to Laval Catholic High School, where he was influenced by Quebec's tradition of Catholic progressivism. He got interested in politics and activism after organizing a successful sit-in to protest the administration’s plan to abolish recess, and participated in weekend community work in Montreal organized by one of this teachers, Father Alan Cox.

After high school and graduating in social sciences from CEGEP Vanier College in 1973, Mulcair started law school at McGill University at age 18. That same year, his father lost his job. The family, with eight children still at home, was forced to sell their home in Laval and move to the family cottage in Saint-Anne-des-Lacs. Mulcair was forced to work summers in construction tarring roofs to pay for law school and housing, while borrowing money from his older sister to pay for books. A strong believer in social justice, he joined the NDP at age 19. During his penultimate year, he was elected president of the McGill Law Students Association, and sat on the council of the McGill Student Union. He obtained his degree in Civil Law in 1976, graduated in common law in 1977, and was admitted to the Bar in 1979.

In 1976, Mulcair married Catherine Pinhas, a psychologist who was born in France to a Sephardic Jewish family from Turkey. The couple have two sons. The oldest, Matt, is a sergeant in the Sûreté du Québec (Quebec provincial police) and married to Jasmyne Côté, an elementary school teacher; they have two children, Juliette and Raphaël. Mulcair and Pinhas's second son, Greg, is an aerospace engineer who teaches physics and engineering technologies at John Abbott College and is married to Catherine Hamé, a municipal councilor; they have one son, Leonard.

Mulcair has dual Canadian and French citizenship, and is fluently bilingual in English and French. He calls himself "Tom" in English and "Thomas" in French.

Mulcair moved to Quebec City to work in the Legislative Affairs branch in Quebec's Ministry of Justice from 1978-1980 and in the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Superior Council of the French Language 1980-1982. He would also teach introductory law at Saint Lawrence College 1979-1982.

In 1983, the Quebec government cut the salaries of civil servants by 20%, so Mulcair and his young family moved to Montreal to became director of legal affairs at Alliance Quebec, a lobby group for the English-speaking community in Quebec. During that time, he played a role in amending the Charter of the French Language, in opposition to the goals of Quebec separatists. In 1985 he began a private law practice and was named the reviser of the statutes of Manitoba following the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the Reference re Manitoba Language Rights case. Mulcair also taught law courses to non-law students at Concordia University (1984), at the Saint Lawrence Campus of Champlain Regional College in Sainte-Foy, and at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.

Quebec Education Minister and former Quebec Liberal Party leader Claude Ryan named Mulcair commissioner of the Appeals Committee on the Language of Instruction (1986–1987) to deal with illegal English Catholic schools set up in defiance of Quebec's language laws. Mulcair credits Ryan with becoming his political mentor during this period.

Mulcair was president of the Office des professions du Québec (1987 to 1993), where he introduced reforms to make disciplinary hearings more transparent and successfully led a major effort to have cases of alleged sexual abuse of patients decisively dealt with. Mulcair was also a board member of the group Conseil de la langue française, and at the time of his appointment to the Office des Professions he had been serving as president of the English speaking Catholic Council.

Mulcair first entered the National Assembly in the 1994 election, winning the riding of Chomedey as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party. Mulcair claims he ran as a Liberal because at the time, it was the only credible federalist provincial party in Quebec. In that era, Quebec was the only province where the NDP was not fully organized; its Quebec wing had seceded in 1990 to preach sovereigntism. He was re-elected in 1998, and again in 2003 when the Liberals ousted the Parti Québécois (PQ) in the provincial election.

After the 1995 referendum, Mulcair was eminent in demanding an inquiry about the rejection of thousands of ballots for the 'No' side.

According to Le Devoir journalist Michel David, Mulcair is the person who coined the expression Pinocchio syndrome, which was the title of a book by André Pratte published in 1997 about lies in politics. In the book, Mulcair speaks about why he believes lying is common in politics, because, according to him, "people feel free to manipulate journalists and say just about anything."

Newly elected Premier Jean Charest named Mulcair minister of sustainable development, environment and parks. At the time of his appointment to Cabinet he had been serving on several volunteer boards including The Montreal Oral School for the Deaf, Operation Enfant Soleil and the Saint-Patrick's Society. During his tenure he was a supporter of the Kyoto Protocol, and drafted a bill amending the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to include the right to live in a healthy environment. The bill passed in 2006.

Mulcair accused former PQ minister Yves Duhaime of influence peddling. Duhaime filed a defamation suit in 2005 and Mulcair was ordered to pay $95,000, plus legal costs. In 2010 the provincial police anti-corruption squad in Quebec investigated Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt for allegations of bribing several provincial politicians. The probe contacted Mulcair to discuss a suspected bribe offered to him in 1994. Mulcair claims he never looked in the envelope and handed it back to the mayor.

On November 25, 2004, Mulcair launched Quebec's Sustainable Development Plan and tabled a draft bill on sustainable development. Also included was a proposed amendment to the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to create a new right, the right to live in a healthy environment that respects biodiversity, in accordance with the guidelines and standards set out in the act. Mulcair's Sustainable Development Plan was based on the successful European model and was described as one of the most avant-garde in North America. Mulcair followed the proposal by embarking on a 21-city public consultation tour, and the bill was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec in April 2006.

Accomplishments related to infrastructure included the completion of Autoroute 30 between Vaudreuil and Brossard, Autoroute 50 between Gatineau and Lachute, the widening of Route 175 between Stoneham and Saguenay, the widening of Route 185 from Rivière-du-Loup to the New Brunswick border and the introduction of a toll bridge which would complete Autoroute 25 between Montreal and Laval.

In 2006, Mulcair opposed a proposed condominium development in the mountain and ski resort of Mont Orford National Park. During a February 27, 2006 Cabinet shuffle, Charest removed Mulcair from the sustainable development, environment, and parks portfolio, and offered him the lesser government services portfolio. His opposition to the government's development plans fuelled speculation that this was a punishment, which led Mulcair to resign from cabinet rather than accept the apparent demotion. The testimony of Jean Charest, incoming environment minister Claude Béchard, and the owner of the company pursuing the development plan, Andre L'Esperance, all contradicted Mulcair, saying that the Orford deal had been approved by Mulcair before he left.

On February 20, 2007, he announced that he would not be a Liberal candidate in the 2007 Quebec general election.

With his exit from the provincial Liberals, Mulcair explored an entry into federal politics, having discussions with the federal Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Conservative Party. During this time he also considered a job with a prominent law firm's environment section. Talks with the Conservatives failed because of differing views on the Kyoto Protocol.

Although Mulcair has identified former Quebec Liberal Party leader Claude Ryan as his political mentor, his presence in the front row during a speech in Montreal by NDP leader Jack Layton in March 2007 led to speculation about his political future. Over the course of several months, Layton persuaded Mulcair to run for the NDP in Quebec, where the party had no seats. On April 20, 2007, Mulcair confirmed that he would run for the NDP in the next federal election.

Mulcair also became Layton's Quebec lieutenant. On June 21, 2007, in an uncontested nomination, Mulcair became the NDP's candidate in the riding of Outremont for a by-election on September 17. Mulcair won the by-election, defeating Liberal candidate Jocelyn Coulon 48 per cent to 29 per cent; the seat had been a Liberal stronghold since 1935 (except for the 1988 election). Jean Lapierre suggested that Mulcair was likely aided by defecting Bloc Québécois supporters (the Bloc candidate had finished second in the 2006 federal election). In addition, Coulon's writings had been condemned by B'nai Brith Canada; the local Jewish community in Outremont made up 10 per cent of the riding demographics.

Mulcair contradicted many federalists by defending the Quebec NDP’s Sherbrooke Declaration, which claimed that a 50 per cent plus one vote is sufficient for Quebec secession.

Mulcair was only the second NDP MP ever elected from Quebec, following Phil Edmonston in 1990 (one previous MP, Robert Toupin, had crossed the floor to the NDP in 1986). Mulcair is also only the second non-Liberal ever to win Outremont, following Progressive Conservative Jean-Pierre Hogue in 1988.

Mulcair was sworn in on October 12, 2007. Earlier, he was named co-deputy leader of the NDP along with Libby Davies. As the party's Quebec lieutenant, he worked to improve the standard of translation for the campaign's francophone party materials, with Layton's support.

On October 14, 2008, Mulcair was re-elected as the MP for Outremont, making him the first New Democrat to win a riding in Quebec during a federal general election. He defeated the federal Liberal candidate, Sébastien Dhavernas, by 14,348 votes to 12,005 (a margin of 6.4 per cent).

In the 2011 federal election, despite facing a challenge from Liberal former federal justice minister Martin Cauchon, Mulcair was re-elected once more with 56.4 per cent of the popular vote, 21,916 to 9,204. The NDP became the Official Opposition for the first time ever, mainly on the strength of winning 59 of Quebec's 75 ridings, including Mulcair's. This was a notable political event, nicknamed the "orange wave".

Federal NDP leader Jack Layton died on August 22, 2011, following a battle with cancer, and was honoured with a state funeral. Mulcair stated that Layton's death had hit him exceptionally hard, and that while he was considering a federal NDP leadership bid, he would need several weeks to make up his mind on that decision. On October 13, 2011, at a press conference in suburban Montreal, Mulcair declared his candidacy for the federal NDP leadership, scheduled for March 23–24, 2012. He attracted the support of 60 of the 101 other federal NDP MPs, including Robert Chisholm and Romeo Saganash, the only two to have dropped out of the leadership race.

Mulcair campaigned on reinventing the party, to strengthen its presence in Quebec, and attract voters in other parts of the country. However, leadership rival Brian Topp and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent framed the race as staying true to the NDP cause under Topp, versus moving the party to the political centre and away from its principles under Mulcair.

At the leadership convention, Mulcair was elected NDP leader on the fourth ballot with 57.2 per cent of the vote, versus Topp's 42.8 per cent. Broadbent went on to praise Mulcair's work as a parliamentarian.

On April 18, 2012, Mulcair and his wife moved into Stornoway. He was sworn into the Privy Council for Canada on September 14, 2012, entitling him to the style "The Honourable" for life.

His first year as leader of the NDP was plagued with several prominent defections. Thunder Bay—Superior North MP Bruce Hyer opted to sit as an independent after being disciplined for voting in favour of the dissolution of the Canadian Firearms Registry, a position counter to one strongly championed by Mulcair. Jonquière—Alma MP Claude Patry later defected to the Bloc Québécois after disagreeing with the NDP's position to amend the Clarity Act, another policy which was strongly promoted by Mulcair. The NDP did however manage to retain their seat in Victoria following the results of a close by-election.

Mulcair declared his party's support for trade deals that included enforceable provisions on labour rights and environmental protection. Mulcair also strongly opposed plans for the creation of the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines, which included travelling to Washington D.C. to lobby against American approval of Keystone, and instead promoted the creation of a pipeline to carry western Canadian oil to be refined on Canada's east coast.

During the Canadian Senate expenses scandal, the NDP reasserted its longstanding position that Senate should be abolished. Mulcair promised to seek a mandate for Senate abolition during the 2015 Canadian federal election even though the Supreme Court had ruled in 2014 that abolition would require the consent of all ten provinces.

Nevertheless, following the election of Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader in April 2013 the political fortunes of the NDP appeared to be on the decline, with the party falling back to its traditional third place in public opinion polls. The party would go on to lose a June 2014 by-election to the Liberals in the previously safe riding of Trinity—Spadina, which was made vacant following incumbent Olivia Chow's decision to run unsuccessfully in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election.

By May 2015, however, the NDP had managed to recover much of its lost ground in public opinion polling and was in a tight three-way race with both the Liberals and Conservatives. Commentators pegged several factors, including Mulcair's opposing stance against the Conservative's Bill C-51 which the Liberals agreed to support and the surprise win for the Alberta NDP in the 2015 Alberta provincial election, as having helped revive the federal party's lagging fortunes. The party also enjoyed success in getting two of its bills through the House at this time, the first of which abolished the so-called "tampon tax" on feminine hygiene products, while the second banned the use of "pay-to-pay" fees charged by banks, although the latter was later blocked from the House floor by the Conservatives.

Despite early campaign polls showing an NDP lead, the party lost 51 seats on election night and fell back to its former third place in Parliament. By winning 44 seats, Mulcair was still able to secure the second best showing in terms of the number of seats compared to Ed Broadbent's 1988 election campaign. However, this was still a smaller percentage than Broadbent had won in 1988 due to the increased number of MPs now represented in the House of Commons.

During the election campaign, Mulcair's stance on the niqab issue contributed to a decline in the party's support in Quebec.

Mulcair's dual citizenship became an election issue, with A poll found that 26% of respondents said his dual citizenship would make them less likely to vote NDP.

Following the election, Mulcair was criticized by some NDP members for having run on a moderate platform and promised to balance the federal budget whilst Trudeau's Liberals promised to run budget deficits in order to pay for social spending and economic stimulus programs; a position that was viewed as allowing the Liberals to outflank the NDP on the left of the political scale.

At the NDP's party convention in April 2016, Mulcair was also criticized by Alberta delegates for what was seen as implicit support for the Leap Manifesto, a program which was seen as opposing Alberta's oil industry and thus a political threat to Rachel Notley's NDP government in Alberta. At the convention, 52 per cent of delegates voted for a leadership review motion to hold a leadership election within 24 months, marking the first time in Canadian federal politics that a leader was defeated in a confidence vote. Mulcair was asked by his caucus to remain as leader until his replacement was selected. His tenure as leader ended at the leadership election held October 1, 2017, with the election of Jagmeet Singh as Mulcair's successor.

In the days prior to the leadership vote, Mulcair confirmed his intention not to stand for parliament in the next federal election, expected in 2019, and suggested that he may resign his seat in the House of Commons as early as Christmas 2017 to accept one of the university appointments that has been offered to him.

Following the October 1, 2017 election of Jagmeet Singh as NDP leader, Mulcair was appointed energy critic in the NDP's shadow cabinet. Mulcair resigned as MP for Outremont on August 3, 2018. His seat was won by Rachel Bendayan of the Liberal Party at the triggered by-election. It was then retained with an increased majority at the 2019 general election.