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In his previous disclosure, filed a year earlier, Mulcair reported holding a mortgage on only one property. The Mulcairs own a home in Beaconsfield, west of Montreal and far from his downtown riding of Outremont. They have repeatedly re-mortgaged the home since they acquired it in 1983.

It is unclear whether Mulcair neglected to report the mortgages on the other homes in his past declarations, or whether he simply added new mortgages in the past year.

His office wouldn’t say why he chose to declare the loans only in January.

“Mr. Mulcair’s primary residence is in Montreal and it remained his primary residence during his time as Leader of the Official Opposition,” Mulcair aide George Smith said an email.

“As the NDP no longer has access to Stornoway or other official residence, Mr. Mulcair has stayed in a hotel during his time in Ottawa. Their secondary residence is indeed in Québec City and their two cottages are in Quebec.”



Mulcair’s family has long held property near Lac Marois, in the Laurentians.

In April, he filed a notice of “material change”, telling the ethics commissioner he had attached a mortgage to another residence. Then, on an election campaign stop in the Quebec City area in September, Mulcair told supporters that he and his wife owned a second home in the city.

“As you may know, Catherine and I lived for many years in Quebec (City), our second son was born in Quebec (City),” he said in Lévis. “Our attachment to the city and region are so strong that Catherine and I still own a residence in Quebec.”