Article content

The New Democratic Party’s treatment of Thomas Mulcair is disgraceful and cowardly. My own background with Mulcair does not make us natural allies, as he objected in Parliament to my return to this country four years ago, and I have generally not supported the NDP at any level.

Our only personal encounter was accidental, brief, and perfectly cordial. But his party has presented the country with a spectacle of ingratitude, scapegoating, and betrayal that will be long remembered by voters of all parties. Everyone qualified to have an opinion would agree that Mulcair’s parliamentary performance as leader of the opposition has been as distinguished as any in living memory, almost as effective and less destructive than that of John Diefenbaker, and up to the highest traditions of Tommy Douglas, David Lewis, Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Conrad Black: Tom Mulcair deserved better Back to video

In the 18 federal general elections since its founding, from 1962 to last year, the NDP was in the band between 13.6 per cent of the vote and 20.4 per cent, except for the debacle of 1993 when it received only 6.9 per cent, and the bonanza of 2011, when it scored 30.6 per cent. Mulcair gained 19.7 per cent last year, a total that, apart from 2011, has been exceeded only twice, narrowly, by Broadbent in 1980 and 1984, with 19.8 per cent and 20.4 per cent of the vote. Mulcair’s total of 44 MPs is the second highest in the party’s history, behind only Layton’s bumper performance of 2011, with 103 MPs.