OTTAWA

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said he’d voted for the Liberal candidate in an advance poll before Monday’s provincial election in Quebec.

Because he’s the only federal leader whose primary residence is in Quebec, Mulcair is the only one eligible to vote.

Mulcair took a shot at Justin Trudeau, saying despite representing a Quebec riding, the Liberal leader doesn’t live there anymore.

A Trudeau spokesman said he “lives in Ottawa in order to be closer to his family. Contrary to the two other leaders, he does not have a paid residence in Ottawa.”

Mulcair said he voted for Geoffrey Kelley, a Liberal candidate he said had a long and deep history with the NDP. The NDP did not have any candidates in the Quebec election.

Earlier Sunday, Mulcair had been rallying his troops in a speech to the party’s Federal Council where he vowed that the NDP would stay true to its roots in the run-up to the next federal election in 2015.

“Our campaign has already started,” he said in French before about 150 delegates and party members.

In attendance was Anne McGrath, the party’s new national director and campaign director, and former chief of staff to Jack Layton.

Another longtime NDP operative, Rebecca Blaikie, was named Quebec campaign director.

McGrath told QMI Agency she’s confident the party – and Mulcair – can build a rapport with Canadians based on her leader's record of being a “good, strong character” who can “stand up to Stephen Harper.”

Mulcair cited the party’s defence of social programs, and the environmental and treaty obligations to First Nations as part of its message to Canadians – “creating opportunity, reducing inequality.”

The NDP will get a run for its money. Polls have consistently put Trudeau’s Liberals ahead of Harper and his Tories and the official opposition NDP.