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Mulcair said the party has recognized that it needs to appeal to voters outside its base come the next election, expected in fall 2015.

“We want Canadians to look at us differently than they have in the past,” Mulcair said. “We want people to look at me and to look at us as a viable alternative for power, saying ‘It’s not true that we have no choice but to alternate between the Liberals and the Conservatives, to go back and forth.’”

Mulcair and Trudeau both invested significant time and political capital in the Trinity-Spadina byelection, a seat held by former New Democrat MP Olivia Chow before she resigned in March to run in the Toronto mayoral campaign.

But Liberal candidate Adam Vaughan — a popular former Toronto city councillor — thumped Cressy, winning about 54% of the vote and defeating the NDP candidate by more than 6,700 votes.

Mulcair cited Vaughan’s popularity and name recognition at the local level as a factor in the results, but made no mention of what impact Trudeau may have had on the race.

Yet, the Liberal leader’s popularity and ability to attract star candidates such as Vaughan appeared to make a difference in Monday’s four federal byelections — two in Toronto and two in Alberta.

The Liberals were the only party to increase their share of the popular vote in all four ridings, compared to the 2011 federal election, while the NDP’s share dropped in each.

Mulcair said the NDP needs to run campaigns that go beyond strictly local matters and focus on broader “kitchen table” issues, such as gas prices, ATM fees and transit, which are of concern to many Canadians of different political stripes.