WATCH ABOVE: NDP leader Tom Mulcair believes Andrew Thomson is up for the challenge in taking on Joe Oliver in Eglinton-Lawrence.
TORONTO – The NDP is pitting a former Saskatchewan finance minister against the incumbent federal minister in the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence.
Tom Mulcair says Andrew Thomson is the right candidate to challenge Conservative Joe Oliver.
The move is a clear effort to beef up the NDP’s credibility on the economic front – as is Mulcair’s other promise: to make the parliamentary budget officer an independent officer of Parliament.
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He says doing so would protect the budget watchdog from political interference and require government departments and agencies to make financial information available.
Mulcair says he’ll take Thomson’s economic record in Saskatchewan over that of Oliver and Prime Minister Stephen Harper any day.
As finance minister in Saskatchewan, Thomson brought in big tax cuts in 2006 and skirmished with the federal government over equalization payments.
Mulcair says he’s confident Thomson can do the trick against Oliver, but the NDP has never done well in the riding.
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