Last week, as ballots for the NDP leadership race hit mailboxes, Montreal newspaper Le Devoir published an open letter from NDP MP Pierre Nantel raising doubts about his party.

The Montreal-area MP worried the NDP leadership candidates were “challenging the legitimacy of the debates that are taking place in the [Quebec] National Assembly and thinking about the possibility of federal disciplinary action.” It’s a doubt that causes tremours in the heart of the Layton legacy.

In 2011 former NDP leader Jack Layton made a clear offer to Quebecers.

A vote for the Bloc Quebecois, Layton argued, kept electing Liberal and Conservative governments in Ottawa. With Quebec support, the NDP could defeat them.

Layton’s offer didn’t just carry the NDP to Official Opposition in 2011. It nearly took it to government in 2015.

Layton’s offer stood on a bedrock idea. He rejected the old, insulting political strategy of buying the support of Quebec’s business and political class. Instead, he would trust progressive Quebecers and commit to respecting their decisions on how to develop their society.

Only Caron has consistently stood on that bedrock. His consistent stand offers the NDP its best opportunity to win in Quebec, an essential step on the NDP path to power.

In addition to his federalism, Caron brings his strength as an economist. He has added intellectual force to the leadership race, bringing forward ideas on job creation, economic diversification, green transition and poverty elimination.

Someone little known just months ago, Caron has become widely liked and respected within the NDP.

Voting for Guy Caron is a strong statement that economic ideas and Layton’s approach to federalism must be tightly embraced by the New Democrats. For those reasons, Caron is my top-ranked candidate.

But while Caron has tied the lead for caucus endorsements, by all other available measures he lags in the race.

My second vote is for Jagmeet Singh, who offers a different path forward for the NDP—to extend the NDP’s urban appeal from downtowns to working class suburbs.

Singh’s offer goes deep. Many Canadians are personally affected by exclusion, racism or religious intolerance. Many—sometimes the same people, sometimes not, many of them young—are struggling with part-time, low-wage and temporary work. For all those Canadians, Singh skillfully combines and intertwines messages of economic and social inclusion which resonate in downtowns and suburbs, especially in Metro Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area.

Singh’s campaign theme—“love and courage”—is a powerful ethic for a socially and economically inclusive Canada. He matches that ethic. Even when facing attacks of the sort no person should endure—but many do, everyday—he has provided positive leadership. The possibility of Jag-mania is real.

It’s also true that Singh has brought forward bold policy ideas of his own—particularly his push for a tax on large estates and certain capital gains to invest in Canada and fight poverty.

Charlie Angus and Niki Ashton have run good campaigns and earned respect. They have strong contributions to make in the future. Unfortunately, neither offers as a clear political path forward as both Caron and Singh.

But things are never simple. Singh’s suburban strategy must be a supplement to the Quebec strategy—not a substitute. The “doubts” expressed by Nantel cannot take hold.

The NDP’s Quebec caucus needs the trust and scope of action required to quell those doubts. It’s a demand for an inclusive leadership style.

Singh’s endorsement lead among federal MPs and Ontario MPPs suggests they believe he works well with others. As an MPP, Singh played a key role in outreach to new Canadians which requires nuance and a respect for different experiences and histories. And there is his own message of inclusion—which seems to reflect him authentically.

Meanwhile, Caron—the economist, the federalist—can play a key role in the NDP’s future, grinding through policy and creating an intelligent and appealing option for Canadians in 2019. Angus and Ashton must also give big contributions.

There is a strong path forward for the NDP: a combined Quebec and suburbs strategy. It’s a team mission, not one for a controlling leader. And perhaps that’s the maturing of a party no longer fighting to survive, but now fighting to govern a complex country.

Tom Parkin is a former NDP staffer and social democrat media commentator.