Thomas Muclair has brushed aside dissent over his leadership saying the real enemy is the Liberal Party, not fellow party members.
“My adversaries are sitting in front of me in the House of Commons,” Mulcair said. “There are no others.
“I’m very happy to be here today, confident in our ability to take on the Liberals and hold them to account on everything from the environment, to economic and social issues.
“We’re going to do our jobs. That’s what we’re here to do.”
Arriving for a two-day party caucus meeting in a downtown Montreal hotel, Mulcair swatted aside questions about the legitimacy of his leadership which have been making headlines for weeks.
In April, Mulcair failed a leadership review in Edmonton but said he would stay on in the interim while the party seeks a new leader.
No candidates have come forward yet but the party nevertheless has to prepare for the resumption of work in the House of Commons next week.
In the meantime there has been grumbling in some parts of the party that Mulcair was not visible enough over the summer. Mulcair took advantage of the summer period to spend more time with him family, including attending family weddings and building a tree house with his grandchildren.
Nevertheless, on Wednesday Mulcair said he has been touched by signs of affection. The Quebec wing of the party is said to be the most solid block of support. He met them separately Wednesday.
He insisted he is doing what the party wants him to do.
“The caucus asked me to do a job and the type of support that I have been feeling is what’s going to allow us all to do our job of taking on the Liberal government,” Mulcair told reporters.
In his comments to the caucus, which the media was allowed to monitor, Mulcair recalled how far the party has come from the old days. It now has a strong presence across Canada including Quebec.
But Muclair and and NDP face challenges trying to take on a very popular Liberal government which has eaten into the traditional left wing vote.
Wednesday, Mulcair warned the caucus to not be surprised what lies ahead.
“We have been through this before where Liberals steal our platform, steal our ideas,” he said. “They are going to go out there and pretend they are on the left even though they were campaigning against universal child care, even though they were campaigning against a $15 federal minimum wage.”
He said the Liberals are starting to show their true colours over their bungling of the Energy East pipeline, the economy and selling arms to the Saudis.
