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“Canadians want to know where we stand and they’re going to have a very clear idea,” Mulcair told The Canadian Press as he prepared for an NDP caucus retreat in Edmonton next week to plot strategy for the fall sitting of Parliament.

They want more from us than, frankly, talking points, platitudes or partisan attacks

“And they want more from us than, frankly, talking points, platitudes or partisan attacks.”

Early disclosure of the platform is more respectful of voters, Mulcair argued.

“One of the things that often frustrates me as a voter is when you find out right in the middle of a campaign that they’ve got this, that and the other idea. You don’t really have time to think about it, to measure it or to look at how it could help improve people’s lives.”

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The former Quebec cabinet minister said the province’s Liberals revealed their platform months before the 2003 Quebec election and it paid off.

“People appreciated it and it’s something that I retained from my past experience is that, you know what, respect people’s ability to make decisions and to evaluate your suggestions.

“So we’re going to be rolling out some very concrete pieces this fall and people will be able to see what Canada would look like, what would be different.”

Mulcair noted that the NDP has already laid down some planks: rolling back the retirement age to 65 from 67; launching a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women within 100 days of taking office; using any budget surpluses to reverse the Harper government’s plan to slow the rate of increases in federal health care transfers, which could amount to $36 billion less for provincial coffers over the next 10 years.