In his teens, Tom Mulcair and friends would head to the poorest Montreal neighbourhoods to do volunteer work and help those in need.

The second child in a family of ten kids held a deep sense of duty and justice. At eighteen, he entered law school and shortly after joined the NDP.

Armed with a law degree and when President of the Quebec Professions Board, he made his mark standing up to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in a fight over sexual abuse of patients. His fight won new protections.

In the divisive politics of 1990s Quebec, Mulcair became a leading progressive voice for minority language rights. He joined the Quebec Liberals, representing the progressive federalists and serving as Environment Minister.

Later he chaffed at their ways. He quit Cabinet when they tried to force him to hand over protected park land to developers. He was done with the Liberals.

But he wasn’t done with the fight. He again got active in the federal NDP – then a fourth-place party that had never won a Quebec seat in a general election. Mulcair swept the Liberal bastion of Outremont. The orange wave was on.

The uncredited political story of Stephen Harper’s last term was the NDP’s relentless fight. While the Liberal leader rarely appeared in the Commons and his caucus often voted with Harper, Mulcair’s NDP pushed the Conservatives down in public support.

Having turned Canadians against Harper, Mulcair planned for a possible first-ever NDP government. His platform offered two new universal social programs – pharmacare and childcare. The Canada Pension Plan would be expanded, the minimum wage boosted. There would be an inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Improved First Nations education funding. Stronger climate change targets.

Mulcair bucked Liberal and Conservative tax cut ideology, pledging to increase corporate taxes to fully fund his social program expansion.

And ironically, that’s where things went wrong.

A Liberal policy u-turn and a brutal attack on the NDP got voters to ignore Mulcair’s promise of new corporate tax revenue. It focused voters solely on the balanced budget result. An “at all costs” tagline was added and repeated mercilessly.

It was an absurd idea – that hiking corporate taxes to fund social programs was right-wing austerity. But the flawed NDP campaign failed to disrupt it. The masters of deception had once again done a number on a naïve NDP.

But the fight is not over. In a few weeks, NDP convention delegates will focus on the path to 2019. Giving Mulcair a strong vote of confidence would be a good start on it.

Mulcair’s entire life story has been a fight for progressive values. And he’s the best fighter the NDP’s got. It would be a foolish team that got rid of its strongest player.

Mulcair’s policy grasp and workhorse attitude guarantee media attention. He communicates effortlessly in English and French. He enjoys strong job approval numbers. He’s built a national profile.

He holds the support of his caucus – with vocal praise from key members. Major union leaders are with him. He’s recruited a new staff team who grew up in the party and understand local campaigns. They’re now pulling local activists together to engage them in ground-level organizing and communications.

A vote of confidence in Mulcair will boost the federal NDP’s most effective voice and hasten the party’s rebuilding. It’s the surest path back to what Liberals fear most – a strong NDP.

@tom_parkin_