Mulcair, Trudeau campaign as potential Pacific trade deal casts shadow on trail

OTTAWA – With the possibility that Canada could join a massive Pacific Rim trade deal, Tom Mulcair tried to cast his NDP on Sunday as the only party prepared to stand up to the Conservatives on a pact that could alter the landscape of the 78-day campaign.

While Conservative Leader Stephen Harper kept a low profile, Mulcair hit the hustings hard, blazing through southwestern Ontario in an effort to take six ridings held by the Tories.

READ MORE: NDP only party with courage to stand up to Harper on TPP, Mulcair says

The NDP leader made it a point to campaign in a region that could be acutely affected by the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as he did Saturday when he stopped in the heart of Quebec’s dairy country. Ontario’s auto industry has been battered in recent years as companies increasingly set up shop in Mexico, where labour costs are cheaper.

At rallies throughout his whistle-stop tour, Mulcair said that a vote for the Liberals would be no different than a ballot cast for the Tories, particularly on the issue of the TPP – a deal he insisted could hurt Canadian farmers and manufacturers.

WATCH: Mulcair says Harper “can’t be trusted” on guarantees given about Trans-Pacific trade deal

“The NDP, when we form government on Oct. 19, will not be bound by this secret agreement that Mr. Harper has been negotiating,” he said while in Brantford, Ont., to cheers.

“There’s nothing new in the Liberals backing the Conservatives. We saw them do that on Bill C-51, which was the biggest attack on our rights and freedoms since the War Measures Act. Who stood up to the War Measures Act? Tommy Douglas and the NDP. That’s standing on principle. Who’s the only party that had the courage to vote against Bill C-51? The NDP.”

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There was much suspense Sunday in Atlanta, where negotiators worked around the clock for a fifth consecutive day in a bid to reach an agreement that would include 12 countries and create the world’s largest trade zone.

Mulcair has been trying to burnish his social-democratic credentials by promising he won’t be bound by a Conservative deal. He has hammered away on the importance of upholding the country’s supply management system for dairy and poultry farmers.