Mulcair’s very bad Saturday

September 19, 2015

OTTAWA – Thomas Mulcair is having a very bad Saturday. He has been caught misleading Canadians about why he quit Quebec politics, on his flawed costing, and on his past support for bulk water exports.

 Mulcair’s former colleagues say he is not telling the truth about his past support for privatizing the parc Mont-Orford, or why he resigned from Quebec politics:

 “Former colleagues of Thomas Mulcair’s in the Charest government…jumped when reading in his autobiography that his was ‘on principle’ always opposed to the privatization of the parc Mont-Orford, a controversy that shook the Charest government in 2006. Reached by La Presse this week, former minister Monique Gagnon-Tremblay has a clear memory of this debate that profoundly divided her region… For her, it was clear that Thomas Mulcair was, at the outset, favourable ‘that the mountain be privatized.’ Thomas Mulcair is said to have resigned over Mont-Orford – at the time, he was also talking about the ambitions of the Vaillancourt administration on wetlands in Laval. However, for those who witnessed this time, many other factors were at play in Jean Charest’s decision to demote his hot-tempered Minister of the Environment.” [Translation]

(La Presse, September 19, 2015, LINK)

Mulcair said former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page supports the flawed NDP costing, but Page denies it: 

“Even though Canada’s former budget watchdog called the NDP’s fiscal plan “Swiss cheese,” leader Thomas Mulcair insists Kevin Page has very nice things to say about his party’s document… Page — whose interview with HuffPost was interrupted while he took a call from Mulcair — said he had been asked by the party Friday to correct or clarify his earlier comments, but had refused.  ‘I told them, ‘Yeah, there are repercussions when you put out a document that is thin. You put Mr. Mulcair on the spot,’ Page said.”  

(Huffington Post, September 18, 2015, LINK)

 Mulcair denied supporting bulk water exports during Thursday’s debate, but CTV has unearthed new footage of Mulcair advocating for it:

 REPORTER: “Trudeau also called out NDP Leader Tom Mulcair on his environmental track record.”

TRUDEAU:  “Mr. Mulcair talks about having been Minister of the Environment in Quebec but I was living in Quebec at that time and I remember he was proposing bulk water exports to the United States for Quebec and that’s certainly not something we are interested in.”

MULCAIR:  “That’s completely false.”

TRUDEAU:  “You gave a speech on it. You said it could be like forestry.”

REPORTER: “But Mulcair did float the idea in a CTV interview ten years ago.”

MULCAIR: “It’s a great resource. One that could probably be exploited rationally and correctly. You can imagine what a bonus it could be for our economy if we were able to structure it in such a way that we can use that resource to our advantage.”

(CTV National News, September 18, 2015, LINK)

Tom Mulcair will say whatever is politically convenient. The only thing his political experience has taught him is to play politics with everything.