{"id":73190,"date":"2016-03-29T05:01:51","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T09:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=73190"},"modified":"2016-03-29T05:01:51","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T09:01:51","slug":"union-heads-pen-joint-statement-support-tom-mulcair-ahead-leadership-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/03\/29\/union-heads-pen-joint-statement-support-tom-mulcair-ahead-leadership-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Union heads pen joint statement in support Tom Mulcair ahead of leadership vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cMulcair<\/a>
\u201cMulcair is known and respected throughout every part of Canada and has the organic relationship with Quebec to keep and expand our strongest geographic base,\u201d the labour leaders’ statement said.
(Photo from Mulcair’s official Facebook page<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Five union leaders are expressing support for Tom Mulcair ahead of next month\u2019s NDP convention in Edmonton, where party members will decide if he should remain at the helm of the party.<\/p>\n

In a statement released Tuesday, the labour leaders say Mulcair has proven his ability to provide a \u201ctrue progressive\u201d alternative to the Liberal government.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of a broader campaign by supporters from across the country to help Mulcair stay on as NDP leader.<\/p>\n

The unions in question are the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the National Union of Public and General Employees, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the United Steelworkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMulcair is known and respected throughout every part of Canada and has the organic relationship with Quebec to keep and expand our strongest geographic base,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

More than 1,500 rank-and-file members of the NDP are expected to congregate in Edmonton for the party\u2019s convention April 8-10.<\/p>\n

Ahead of this event, Mulcair has been actively meeting with supporters across the country, trying to persuade party faithful he is best positioned take the party beyond October\u2019s disappointing third-place election results.<\/p>\n

Meeting face-to-face with members has been an important part of the post-mortem process, according to CUPE National President Mark Hancock.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he sort of curled up in a ball after the election, we wouldn\u2019t be supporting him, obviously,\u201d Hancock said in an interview with The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NDP and the labour movement \u2013 we like fighters. We like people who are willing to stand up for values and Tom really exemplifies that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hancock said he considers Mulcair the best person to lead the NDP going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very progressive individual and his priorities are the priorities of our members,\u201d he said. \u201cHis values are our values.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many lessons to learn from the 2015 campaign, but Mulcair has worked tirelessly to figure out what went wrong and what went right, said NDP House leader Peter Julian.<\/p>\n

The campaign is also being closely examined by a working group lead by NDP President Rebecca Blaikie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s when you see really effective leadership, when a leader is willing to go across the country, hear from the grassroots… that is going to, no doubt, help us as we move forward to hold,\u201d Julian said.<\/p>\n

Julian said he gets the impression there is \u201cvery clear support\u201d for Mulcair from the grassroots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not unanimous of course,\u201d he said. \u201cIn our party, that is healthy, democratic debate but it is very strong. I\u2019m very confident moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview earlier this month, Mulcair said meeting rank-and-file supporters has been \u201clike a tonic\u201d for him following the election.<\/p>\n

The meetings also allowed him the chance to interact face-to-face with supporters \u2013 something he didn\u2019t have much chance to do when the party was the official Opposition. \u201cThat\u2019s given me energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mulcair has faced criticism in the weeks leading up to the convention, notably from a group of New Democrat Quebec activists \u2013 including three defeated MPs \u2013 who called on the party to go in a new direction.<\/p>\n

Jamie Nicholls, Elaine Michaud and Helene LeBlanc said they did not feel represented in the NDP electoral platform they had to defend last year.<\/p>\n

And during a recent press conference in Ottawa, NDP MP Niki Ashton also refused to categorically state whether she wants Mulcair to stay on as party leader.<\/p>\n

She ran against Mulcair for leader in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to members to decide how they want to go forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mulcair has refused to say what level of support would prompt him to quit but Blaikie has suggested 70 per cent is a likely threshold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2013 Five union leaders are expressing support for Tom Mulcair ahead of next month\u2019s NDP convention in Edmonton, where …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":73191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,16,483],"tags":[9636],"class_list":["post-73190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-news","category-politics","tag-cp","mauthors-kristy-kirkup","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}