NDP leader Tom Mulcair’s election night speech was no barn-burner. But for a leader who just watched his caucus sliced in half, he was hopeful.
“With this election, Canadians have asked us all to work for them. We will not let them down,” he said, adding that he accepted the results “with humility.”
And he made no mention of stepping down. In fact, NDP spokespersons took pains to tell reporters that he has no intention to do so.
“On continue,” he said in French. “We keep going.”
Carleton University politics professor Gary Levy revised his previous prediction that Mulcair would have a hard time staying on as party leader if the NDP did poorly on election night.
“I think it made a lot of sense for him to stay and try and rebuild the party with all the people they lost. I think if he also stepped away, they’d be in really bad shape.”
The NDP lost numerous hard-hitters on Monday night, including Deputy Leader Megan Leslie and Industry Critic Peggy Nash.
“I think he’ll certainly stay for a while,” Levy said. He predicted halfway through this parliament — so, about two years.
“I don’t see him running again in the next election, but I don’t see him resigning any time soon.”
Mulcair began the federal campaign riding high, and many had him pegged as Canada’s next prime minister. But the NDP stumbled in the polls in September and just kept falling as voters looking for change opted for the Liberals, instead.
“What happens traditionally with the New Democrats is they take a bunch of time to take a look at what happened,” said Media Style’s Ian Capstick, whose husband worked on the NDP campaign.
“I have no doubt that Mr. Mulcair will continue as leader.”
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