Banks don’t like Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act.

That law was the basis of a successful class-action lawsuit over banks’ credit card charges. Banks fought the suit to the Supreme Court, arguing the Quebec law didn’t apply. But in a 2014 decision, the Court disagreed. So time to pay up, right?

Not yet. The banks held some aces. And, buried in Trudeau’s first budget bill, was a bank exemption from Quebec consumer laws.

So, with the majority Liberals on-side, how could the banks lose?

Have you met Guy Caron?

Caron is the NDP MP from Rimouski, a town 300 kilometres east of Quebec City on the St. Lawrence south shore. With a Master’s degree in economics, he’s the NDP Finance Critic. And there’s a good chance he’ll be the next federal NDP leader.

“I’m talking to people, I’m reaching out to see if they’d be interested in helping me,” says Caron. But there’ll be no announcement until after February 8. That’s when his private member’s bill goes to committee. His bill would make it easier for parents to transfer a small farm or fishing company to children.

New Democrats should look closely at Caron. First, he’s got a great back-story. As a Rimouski teenager, Caron was aiming at medical school. But a summer job in sports radio changed his path. A sports statistics fanatic, he engaged callers, built a local radio following and interviewed heroes – Lafleur, Béliveau, Carbonneau. Then, he studied communications at the University of Ottawa, was editor of the University paper, completed his economics MA, worked in Toronto, then Ottawa.

In 2002, friends coaxed him to Jack Layton’s leadership launch. Caron was impressed. He joined Layton’s party and wrote press releases and speeches for Layton. Caron was elected in 2011 by 5,000 votes. In 2015, he won by 7,000 votes with a higher vote share.

Caron offers to renew Layton’s path to power. In 2015, the NDP won 16 Quebec seats with province-wide support at 25%, not far behind the Liberals’ 35%. In the “fundamentally social democratic society” of Quebec, Caron believes Liberal stumbles can be turned to NDP gains and, in turn, boost national strength.

In recent months, Caron has travelled to Regina, Saskatoon, St. John’s, Halifax and Toronto. His English is fluent, but, unlike Mulcair or Trudeau, accented.

Caron’s political vision is a broad national voting coalition on “working class and middle class” economic issues. “I’ve been working my entire life to make sure Quebec progressives work hand-in-hand with progressives throughout the country,” he says.

And he catches the Liberals at their games. He was the first MP to show the Liberals’ “middle class” tax cut gave maximum benefit to incomes between $100,000 and $200,000.

He was first to warn their infrastructure bank might be more about investors’ returns than Canadians’ transit and roads. He keeps raising the broken promise to close the stock-options tax loophole. He keeps talking about the damage of tax havens and the “unfair tax system that allows the rich to get special treatment by CRA.”

And his work got the Liberals to back down from exempting banks from the Quebec Consumer Protection Act. Caron worked with consumer groups, called witnesses and worked with other opposition parties. It was a small but important win for Canadians.

Caron offers a story, a strategy and a political vision. His candidacy would deserve close attention from New Democrats.

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