TWO prominent North Shore New Democrats are publicly endorsing Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair for the leadership of the federal NDP.
The City of North Vancouver's Mayor Darrell Mussatto and Coun. Craig Keating met with Mulcair Friday afternoon, just before the opening of the provincial NDP's annual convention, in Vancouver. Their conversation covered federal-municipal relations, sustainability and infrastructure. Both municipal politicians said they liked what they heard and both were quoted in a statement from the Mulcair campaign.
"When not only I but so many other people see him, they imagine in him a man who could be prime minister of the country," Keating told the North Shore News.
Keating is a former provincial leadership contender and current B.C. NDP candidate for North Vancouver-Lonsdale.
"He's the one who's got the gravity, the skills, the experience. Amongst a slew of great candidates, he's the one that stands out. He's knowledgeable on every file he talks about. He's a skilled debater and he can carry a message very effectively for the party. He seems to be the complete package."
Mussatto said he found Mulcair to be familiar with the issues facing local governments.
"Usually federal politicians don't understand municipalities that well, and he does. He gets it," said Mussatto. "He gets the challenges that face municipalities. He knows that the federal and provincial governments have been putting pressure on municipalities to take up more with less - the sewage treatment plant for example."
Mulcair made no specific promises, said Mussatto, beyond a pledge to "listen and work with municipalities."
In the wake of the NDP's historic breakthrough in Quebec this spring and the death of leader Jack Layton shortly afterwards, nine people are vying to lead the new Official Opposition. Only one, MP Nathan Cullen, is from B.C.
"There are some very talented people," Mussatto said. "There's no doubt they are very capable people. But you have to have someone with previous elected experience and Thomas Mulcair has that as a member of the Quebec government and as an environment minister - cabinet-level experience. The others are great candidates I think, but they need more experience."
While Keating's ties to the NDP are widely known, Mussatto - a member of the federal NDP - rarely calls attention to his involvement with party politics.
"I'm trying not to make a big deal out of it," he said. "As a mayor, I'm not there to represent the NDP, I'm there to represent the people of North Vancouver. I get along with any level of government, whether it's federal or provincial, any party whether it's Conservatives or Liberals. . . . So it is a bit of departure for me, but I believe so strongly in Thomas Mulcair that I said I would put my name forward in that regard."
New Democrats will vote for a federal leader March 24, 2012.
