Mulcair distances himself from Selinger, tackles aboriginal issues

WATCH: NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is interviewed on the Winnipeg Morning News.

WINNIPEG – Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair carefully drew a distinction between his party and Manitoba’s NDP government on Winnipeg’s Morning News Friday.

Mulcair also talked about aboriginal issues and his party’s childcare plan in the live interview.

READ MORE: What we know about the NDP’s childcare plan

Mulcair didn’t answer a question about why Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger wasn’t at the big NDP rally Thursday in Winnipeg, simply stating he saw the provincial NDP leader afterward.

“Across the country, we’re concentrated on bringing our message forward,” he said, emphasizing the word our.

“Greg and his government have done an amazing job, for example, of keeping unemployment very low, working on issues like social housing,” Mulcair said. “They’ve got a track record but of course, federally and provincially we’re working on different emphasis, but I’m going to work with the provinces no matter what their political stripe.”

Mulcair also promised to launch an inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

“Can you imagine if 1,200 women had been murdered or gone missing in Ottawa? You think we’d have to be begging for an inquiry to find out what the problem is?” he said. “Within 100 days of forming government, we will launch just such an inquiry.”

READ MORE: Missing and murdered indigenous women: Still looking for answers to a decades-old problem

Mulcair also promised federal funding for an all-weather road to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.