Brian Topp speaks in the measured tones of the political scientist

Instead of the often-frenetic verbal eruptions of the career politician, a conversation with Topp includes a number of silent pauses as he gathers his thoughts.

The man he must beat to become the next NDP leader, Thomas Mulcair, can suck much of the oxygen from a room with his penchant for enthusiastic digressions, while Topp maintains a laser-like focus on the subject at hand.

But in this race to become Canada’s opposition leader, those measured tones clearly frame the competition between Topp and Mulcair.

They are easily catalogued — differences in style, experience, roots in the party, ability to work as part of a team and, most importantly, the fundamental direction the NDP will take at a watershed in its history.

Topp pledges fealty to a “movement,’’ not, as he puts it without a specific mention of Mulcair, “a party of interests.’’

However, neither of these men, who were raised in Quebec, has anything to gain from a two-person blood feud.

To do so would be to open the door for Toronto MP Peggy Nash or Ottawa MP Paul Dewar to play the “party unity” card, winning the March leadership convention by claiming only they can heal the warring factions.

Topp is attempting a move from the backroom to centre stage, a daunting leap that has ended in crash landings for some of the most experienced strategists who have come before him.

But he is a skilled political practitioner who can skewer an opponent in his low decibel manner.

It would be a mistake for the next leader to try to “outshout” the Conservative attacks, Topp says, a gambit which plays to the government’s strategy of suppressing the vote by sliming all opponents and souring progressives on the political system.

Respond, but outthink them, he says — be the captain, not the enforcer.

That is an obvious reference to Mulcair’s high-voltage, short-fused approach to political combat.

Topp cites his roots in the party, his experience in Saskatchewan NDP governments and his allegiance to party principles, as opposed to someone he believes would make his party an orange version of the Liberal party.

“If there are two Liberal parties in front of Canadian voters in the next election, then people will vote for the real one,’’ he says.

He also draws a sharp distinction between his work in the offices of NDP premiers and Mulcair’s stint in the Quebec government.

“You have a different perspective on this work when you are a mid-level minister in a Liberal government in the province of Quebec as opposed to being in the premier’s office in an NDP government,’’ he says.

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“He had a couple years’ experience, I was there for longer than that.’’

Topp spent six years in NDP governments; Mulcair spent four years in the government of Jean Charest, three of them in cabinet, before jumping to the NDP.

Part of leadership, says Topp, is keeping the party united and growing.

“(You) need to be a good steward of your party, to understand your party, to know its roots, its dynamics, its clock spins . . . to be able to keep it working happily as a team.’’

Topp has challenges that go beyond his learning curve in retail politics.

He lacks a seat in the Commons and his victory would prolong a period of interim leadership which, under Nycole Turmel, has hurt the party.

He chose not to run in Jack Layton’s Toronto—Danforth riding, but says he would quickly seek a seat in Quebec if elected leader.

New Democrats do have clear choices and the battle between Topp and Mulcair pits the establishment choice versus the brash party transplant.

Two others, Dewar and Nash, look to build enough second choice support to win the Toronto convention and we will visit with them in the coming days.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca

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