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President Donald J. Trump, arch-nemesis of the Canadian Left? Not really. More likely Trump’s rise is the very lifeline Canada’s woebegone New Democrats, and their allies in the labour movement, have been waiting for.

Last April, shortly before Thomas Mulcair was ousted as NDP leader — he continues to head the party as caretaker, ahead of a leadership race to take place next year — he denounced the Republican populist disruptor and urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to do the same. Trudeau demurred, keeping his Trump cards near his vest, where they remain.

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But a curious pattern has emerged since last week’s upset by the Trump-Pence ticket, and the GOP’s taking control of both houses of the U.S. Congress. Canadian leftists have begun appropriating Trump’s political gain for their own purposes. It’s a surprisingly seamless fit.

Mulcair, the veteran public administrator and former Quebec Liberal, no one’s idea of a rabble-rousing populist, hasn’t changed his stance — much. He continues to urge Trudeau to “stand up” to Trump. “I think when you see the type of racist, sexist comments that were made by Mr. Trump during the campaign those are things we don’t want here in Canada, “ Mulcair told the Canadian Press last week.