NDP Leader Tom Mulcair holds a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Jan. 18.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Tom Mulcair has put the disappointing results of the last federal election behind him and is now working to get a strong show of support from his members at the NDP's convention in Edmonton in April.
"Theoretically, all you need is more than 50 per cent of the people there to say they don't want a leadership race," the NDP Leader said Monday at his first news conference of the year. "But of course, I'm expecting a lot more than that."
There is no widespread movement in the New Democratic Party to get rid of Mr. Mulcair following the setback of Oct. 19, when the party finished in third place in the election and won only 44 seats, down from a high of 103 in 2011. Still, there is a widely shared sense in the party that Mr. Mulcair needs to lay out a clear vision for the coming mandate to remain as leader.
However, he refused to present a strategy to guide the NDP into the next general election in 2019, when Justin Trudeau and the Liberals will aim to get a second mandate.
"We have to concentrate first and foremost on reconnecting with our base," Mr. Mulcair said at the news conference, held ahead of a party caucus meeting in Montebello, Que., on Tuesday and Wednesday. "I don't think that anybody in the party is expecting a plan for the 2019 election to be given in Edmonton in 2016."
While he refused to be pinned down on a minimum threshold of support in the confidence vote that would allow him to stay in his job, Mr. Mulcair said he is heartened by the support he has received from the party's grassroots in recent weeks.
Mr. Mulcair said that he and the party "learned a heck of a lot" as it fell short of its dream of forming the government, chief among them a need to reconnect with the party's membership and get a better feel of the electorate.
"I'm humbled by the task ahead, I'm taking nothing for granted, I'm proud to be the leader of Canada's social-democratic NDP. I will continue to do my best to have that confidence and keep earning it," Mr. Mulcair told reporters.
Malcolm Allen, the former NDP MP for the riding of Welland, said in an interview that the results of the last election were a "kick in the gut" for the party. He said the third-place finish was a setback after the 2011 results under the leadership of Jack Layton showcased the NDP's potential across the country.
Mr. Allen, who lost to a Liberal candidate in last year's election, said the challenge at this point is for Mr. Mulcair to convince the membership, before the party gathers in Edmonton, that he has a plan.
"The membership is looking and saying: 'Tell us what the plan is, Tom. We believe in the plan, we believe in you.' The membership is open to that," Mr. Allen said. "I'm certainly not hearing from folks across the country that there is a sense to mobilize and get rid of him. There are a lot of questions being asked, but that is fair after an election that started out, at the beginning, as if perhaps we were going to take that next step."
At his news conference, Mr. Mulcair repeatedly came back to the battle against various types of inequality in the country as a key issue that the NDP will espouse in coming months, in addition to fighting against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
"What sets New Democrats apart is our understanding that to build a better Canada, we need a government to tackle inequality rather than compound it," he said.
While he campaigned on a promise to balance the books, Mr. Mulcair conceded that the NDP has promoted stimulus spending in the past, and could support measures in the next budget that would aim to breathe life into the economy.
Mr. Mulcair said he is looking forward to receiving a report from former MP Paul Dewar and NDP president Rebecca Blaikie on the lessons to be learned from the last election. He has also recently brought in a new chief of staff with long roots in the NDP, Raymond Guardia, to shore up his support in the party.