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This week, the NDP changed the sign on the lectern that Tom Mulcair uses on the campaign trail. Two simple words now greet voters: Experience. Leadership.

It’s a subtle shift in messaging as the party tries to break out of a three-way statistical tie in some polls. While the Tories reportedly made some major changes in their own campaign this week – shaking up the back office, according to some news media – the NDP has begun to emphasize not so much that it is a party of change (its early message) as that it is a party with an experienced hand at the helm.

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Among the mid-campaign steps the NDP is taking:

– Mulcair has shifted some of his attacks away from Conservative Leader Stephen Harper towards Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, for instance warning voters that Trudeau cannot be “trusted” and emphasizing his own “experience” in contrast to the shorter political career of Trudeau.

– He’s also trying harder to differentiate himself from both Trudeau and Harper. For instance, Mulcair says an NDP government would immediately stop Canada’s bombing raids on ISIL and bring home all troops – including those now training local forces in Iraq. (Harper says the mission will last for the “long haul” and Trudeau says the Liberals would stop bombing but keep trainers in Iraq.)