2012 leadership campaign Federal NDP leader
Jack Layton died on August 22, 2011, following a battle with
cancer, and was honoured with a
state funeral. Mulcair stated that Layton's death had hit him exceptionally hard, and that while he was considering a federal NDP leadership bid, he would need several weeks to make up his mind on that decision. On October 13, 2011, at a press conference in suburban Montreal, Mulcair declared his candidacy for the federal NDP leadership, scheduled for March 23–24, 2012. He attracted the support of 60 of the 101 other federal NDP MPs, including
Robert Chisholm and
Romeo Saganash, the only two to have dropped out of the leadership race. Mulcair campaigned on reinventing the party, to strengthen its presence in Quebec, and attract voters in other parts of the country. At the leadership convention, Mulcair was elected NDP leader on the fourth ballot with 57.2 per cent of the vote, versus Topp's 42.8 per cent. Broadbent went on to praise Mulcair's work as a parliamentarian. He was sworn into the
Privy Council for Canada on September 14, 2012, entitling him to the style "
The Honourable" for life. His first year as leader of the NDP was plagued by several prominent defections.
Thunder Bay—Superior North MP
Bruce Hyer opted to sit as an independent after being disciplined for voting in favour of the dissolution of the
Canadian Firearms Registry, a position counter to one strongly championed by Mulcair.
Jonquière—Alma MP
Claude Patry later defected to the Bloc Québécois after disagreeing with the NDP's position to amend the
Clarity Act, another policy which was strongly promoted by Mulcair. The NDP did however manage to retain their seat in
Victoria following the results of a close by-election. Mulcair declared his party's support for
trade deals that included enforceable provisions on
labour rights and environmental protection. Mulcair favoured the
Energy East pipeline proposal over other plans for the creation of the
Keystone XL and
Northern Gateway pipelines, arguing that a west-east pipeline would improve
energy security and create more jobs in Canada. During the
Canadian Senate expenses scandal, the NDP reasserted its longstanding position that
Senate should be abolished. Mulcair promised to seek a mandate for Senate abolition during the
2015 Canadian federal election even though the Supreme Court had ruled in 2014 that abolition would require the consent of all ten provinces. Nevertheless, following the election of
Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader in April 2013 the political fortunes of the NDP appeared to be on the decline, with the party falling back to its traditional third place in
public opinion polls. The party would go on to lose a June 2014 by-election to the Liberals in the previously safe riding of
Trinity—Spadina, which was made vacant following incumbent
Olivia Chow's decision to run unsuccessfully in the
2014 Toronto mayoral election. By May 2015, however, the NDP had managed to recover much of its lost ground in public opinion polling and was in a tight three-way race with both the Liberals and Conservatives. Commentators pegged several factors, including Mulcair's opposing stance against the Conservative's
Bill C-51 which the Liberals agreed to support and the surprise win for the
Alberta NDP in the
2015 Alberta provincial election, as having helped revive the federal party's lagging fortunes. The party also enjoyed success in getting two of its bills through the House at this time, the first of which abolished the so-called "
tampon tax" on
feminine hygiene products, while the second banned the use of "pay-to-pay" fees charged by banks, although the latter was later blocked from the House floor by the Conservatives.
2015 federal election Despite early campaign polls showing an NDP lead, the party lost 51 seats on election night and fell back to its former third place in Parliament. By winning 44 seats, Mulcair was still able to secure the second-best showing in terms of the number of seats compared to Ed Broadbent's
1988 election campaign. However, this was still a smaller percentage than Broadbent had won in 1988 due to the increased number of MPs now represented in the House of Commons. During the election campaign, Mulcair's stance on the niqab issue contributed to a decline in the party's support in Quebec. with a poll finding that 26% of respondents said his dual citizenship would make them less likely to vote NDP. Following the election, Mulcair was criticized by some NDP members for having run on a moderate platform and promised to balance the federal budget, whilst Trudeau's Liberals promised to run budget deficits to pay for social spending and economic stimulus programs; a position that was viewed as allowing the Liberals to outflank the NDP on the left of the political spectrum. Mulcair's NDP also opposed full legalization of
cannabis, instead supporting decriminalization, further eroding support among younger voters. Overall, the NDP's 2015 campaign was viewed as overly cautious compared to the bold "change" campaign of the Liberals.
2016 leadership review At the NDP's party convention in April 2016, Mulcair was also criticized by Alberta delegates for what was seen as implicit support for the
Leap Manifesto, a program which was seen as opposing Alberta's oil industry and thus a political threat to
Rachel Notley's NDP government in Alberta. marking the first time in Canadian federal politics that a leader was defeated in a confidence vote. Mulcair was asked by his caucus to remain as leader until his replacement was selected. His tenure as leader ended at the
leadership election held October 1, 2017, with the election of
Jagmeet Singh as Mulcair's successor. In the days before the leadership vote, Mulcair confirmed his intention not to stand for parliament in the
next federal election, expected in 2019, and suggested that he may resign his seat in the House of Commons as early as Christmas 2017 to accept one of the university appointments that had been offered to him. Following the October 1, 2017, election of Jagmeet Singh as NDP leader, Mulcair was appointed energy critic in the
NDP's shadow cabinet. Mulcair resigned as MP for Outremont on August 3, 2018. His seat was won by
Rachel Bendayan of the Liberal Party at the
triggered by-election. It was then retained with an increased majority at the
2019 general election. ==Post-political career (2017–present)==