OTTAWA—The best way to win over Canadians who may not be sympathetic to aboriginal causes is to appeal to their self-interest, says New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair.

“If you can’t get people to do it because it’s the right thing to do, you can also convince them that it is in their own interests to do it and that is the truth,” Mulcair said Wednesday in an interview with the Star.

Mulcair said he believes “most Canadians are pretty understanding” of First Nations rights, history and the injustices they have faced and continue to suffer, but even those who are not, or who do not want the Conservative government to do more for them without increased financial accountability on reserves, can be brought onside.

“It’s even in the interest of those who consider that resource development should be unbridled and should be the only economic activity, because if they understood that what is standing in the way of being able to do this in any coherent manner is the courts’ insistence that First Nations rights be respected,” Mulcair said.

This is something that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is realizing too late in the game, Mulcair argued, suggesting that First Nations anger — and court actions — over what they perceive to be a lack of consultation over legislation and natural resource development projects that affect their land and way of life will increasingly stymie his economic agenda.

Mulcair pointed to a moment in the 2006 election when Harper said voters had nothing to fear from a Conservative majority because a Liberal-dominated Senate, courts and senior public service would temper any changes they sought.

“Everybody was sort of going, ‘That’s a bit creepy . . . . You’re going to be the prime minister and you’re going to have to work with what’s there and you can transform and make your own imprint, but you are going to have to work with people,’ ” Mulcair recalled.

“He was giving away his deepest thoughts when he was saying that, because now the thing that is standing between him and his desire just to steamroll this thing through is the presence of the court system holding up aboriginal rights,” said Mulcair, who believes that is what may end up being the nail in the coffin of the B.C. Northern Gateway pipeline project.

While the Conservative government can force changes to environmental protection regulations through Parliament with omnibus budget implementation bills and a majority government, Mulcair argued, they cannot stop how the courts interpret the duty to consult with First Nations.

“He’s never understood that you have to work with. He always works against and that is starting to come home to roost and his frustration level is going to increase,” Mulcair said.

Still, Mulcair acknowledged there are things the Conservative government has accomplished that could probably not be reversed, even if the NDP manages to win the 2015 election.

“A failure to enforce existing legislation and then, after that, simply getting rid of that legislation is going to have a devastating, long-term effect on some very large ecosystems in our country,” said Mulcair, who was referring to changes to the environmental assessment process, the Navigable Waters Protection Act and the Fisheries Act.

Mulcair also said the Wheat Board “might be a permanent, long-term loss”, that he is worried about possibly irreversible changes to the supply management system for dairy and poultry farmers as Canada negotiates the Trans Pacific Partnership.

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