Outremont MP Thomas Mulcair talks confidently about the NDP's chances in Quebec, a province not particularly known as fertile soil for the New Democrats.
Mulcair, Jack Layton's Quebec lieutenant, says the party is aiming for at least six seats in the province — a lofty goal considering Mulcair is only the second NDP MP ever elected in Quebec.
Mulcair, 53, was born in Ottawa and obtained a law degree from McGill University. He taught at Concordia University in Montreal before joining the Quebec Department of Justice.
He entered the Quebec Assembly as a Liberal in 1994 after winning the Chomedey riding, and was re-elected in 1998 and 2003. Premier Jean Charest appointed him to the post of Environment Minister, where he was a noted supporter of the Kyoto Protocol.
Mulcair resigned from the cabinet in February of 2006 after a cabinet shuffle saw Charest offer him the post of Minister of Government Services — to most political observers, a demotion. He announced a year later that he would not run as a Liberal candidate in the Quebec general election.
Two months after that, he made another announcement: he would run as an NDP candidate. Mulcair contested the Outremont by-election in 2007, going up against Stephane Dion's hand-picked Liberal candidate Jocelyn Coulon. The riding had been a Liberal stronghold for more than 70 years.
He won convincingly, and was named the New Democrats' deputy leader. In 2006, the party won 7.5 per cent of the vote, and recent polls show it hovering at about 10 per cent – still a decline from this summer, when it hit a high of 16 per cent.
Mulcair will likely regain his Outremont seat and the party is sure to do well in Westmount-Ville Marie, another Montreal-area riding.
But Bloc posters have started appearing around Montreal, telling voters that supporting the NDP could lead to a Conservative majority. If that campaign proves to be effective or if the Conservatives surge in the polls, the NDP could fall far short of Mulcair's goal.