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At 6:30 Sunday night, my six-year-old daughter Zara skipped off to her room with an evil gleam in her eye. Five minutes later, she came down to the dinner table with a word written on her arm — “in permanent marker!” — MULCAR.

“I can’t vote yet but if I could …” she said, her voice trailing off. Then she took a breath and declared: “Harper made too many mistakes. Trudeau’s not ready. I don’t know what the other party leaders stand for, so I would vote for Mulcair.”

My first thought was: dear God, I’m raising an accidental socialist. Second thought: I am so proud of you for paying attention to this election, even if you’re watching too much advertising. Third: I bet a lot of grown-ups are also leaning towards Leader Number Three, precisely because they have such fierce objections to the other two.

In politics, personality cuts both ways. A strong personality can inspire people to follow you to the ends of the earth. But it can also make people want very, very badly to get rid of you.

In Harper’s case, that sentiment is driving the NDP’s record-high poll numbers in Quebec. It’s not just Conservative policies many Quebecers object to. It’s Harper himself: his controlling nature, his chilly demeanour, the perception that he’s overly calculating.

‘Inhumain‘ is the word you keep hearing. Try to counter this with observations like “he sings a mean Beatles tune” or “he loves hockey just like you” and you won’t get very far. People still bring up that years-old image of Harper shaking hands with his son Ben when he was seeing him off to school, and the conversation pretty much ends there.

Similarly, Trudeau’s personality inspires visceral reactions from die-hard Conservative voters. They practically foam at the mouth when you mention his name. They threaten to leave the country if he gets elected; to them, the thought of nightly news coverage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would ruin dinner for the next four years. This has little to do with his policies and everything to do with his aura of entitlement — this sense people get that, since childhood, everyone around Justin has just been waiting for him to become prime minister.

Mulcair’s personality is the least likely to offend. He doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not. Despite his well-known temper, he has yet to demonstrate a mean streak. Mulcair’s personality is the least likely to offend. He doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not. Despite his well-known temper, he has yet to demonstrate a mean streak.

But it’s not just the Tory base that reacts this way. My own mother, who voted for Trudeau senior several times, doesn’t feel the same respect for his son.

“I can’t stand him,” she told me. “I can’t stand the way he speaks. He is so phony. It is like he is acting. All. The. Time.” She paused to take a sip of wine, then stuck the knife in: “And he’s not that good-looking, either.” My mother then announced that she is voting for Mulcair, “because he comes across like a statesman”.

Zara thought this was great. I needed reinforcements. So I turned to my partner Bill, who, despite coming from a long line of Liberals, including one of Mackenzie King’s MPs, has a small-c conservative heart when it comes to the economy, deficits and taxes. “Honey?”

Bill chewed a bite of pork roast to avoid answering me for a moment, then said he hasn’t decided who he’s supporting.

This is going to be a long election.

Of the three leaders, however, it’s fair to say that Mulcair’s personality is the least likely to offend. He doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not. He invokes his working class roots but doesn’t play the bleeding-heart socialist, a pose which would conflict with his background as a provincial Liberal. Despite his well-known temper, he has yet to demonstrate a mean streak.

For many voters, Mulcair is the hardest party leader to hate — in part because he hasn’t had the chance to give us any material. We know most of the details of Harper’s controlling and secretive governance style; Mulcair is a clean slate.

Back to Zara. After dinner it was bath time, which meant the “permanent” marker would likely wash off. I promised Zara we could write Mulcair on her arm again if she wanted, as long as we spelled it right this time. But I still had a question.

“Sweetie, I understand your arguments against the other two leaders. But why do you like Mulcair? What makes you want to vote for him?”

Zara frowned and thought for a moment. “I don’t know. But Harper’s been there a long time. He shouldn’t get to be prime minister forever.”

In other words: give another kid a turn on the playground. Fair enough. In 49 days, we’ll see if the grownups feel the same way.

Tasha Kheiriddin is a political writer and broadcaster who frequently comments in both English and French. After practising law and a stint in the government of Mike Harris, Tasha became the Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and co-wrote the 2005 bestseller, Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution. Tasha moved back to Montreal in 2006 and served as vice-president of the Montreal Economic Institute, and later director for Quebec of the Fraser Institute, while also lecturing on conservative politics at McGill University. Tasha now lives in Whitby, Ontario with her daughter Zara, born in 2009.

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