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Could Bernie Sanders sink Tom Mulcair? As the leader of the NDP prepares for the party’s upcoming convention — and a vote of confidence on his leadership — some in the party are grumbling that it needs a stronger socialist standard-bearer.

They point to the unprecedented support flowing to Democratic presidential aspirant Sanders, who is taking his party further left than it has ever been. Sanders wants to charge companies for carbon emissions, provide government-funded health care, preschool, college and university, break up banks, implement an estate tax, and raise income taxes on the rich.

He would pull troops out of Iraq and ban assault weapons at home. And he would spend $1 trillion on infrastructure to put 13 million Americans back to work (which sounds curiously like the plan proposed by Democratic President Frank Underwood in Season 3 of House of Cards, minus the intrigue.)

Contrast those proposals with the NDP platform in the last Canadian election — notably its pledge to balance the budget. The Liberal party almost seemed closer to Sanders’ vision, particularly when it came to infrastructure spending, taxing the wealthy and redistributing money to middle class families. It is now commonplace wisdom to state that the NDP’s undoing was in part the result of their ideological switcheroo with the Liberals on fiscal policy. By moving closer to the political centre on economics as the Liberals lurched left, the NDP became the more “conservative” of the two parties — and lost progressive voters in the process.

A leftward tilt would, of course, signify a change in direction for the NDP. But would the electorate buy it coming from Mulcair? A leftward tilt would, of course, signify a change in direction for the NDP. But would the electorate buy it coming from Mulcair?

Mulcair acknowledged this failure in an open letter published last month, wherein he took responsibility for the party’s loss and put out a plan to move forward. “We are addressing the important observation from the interim report that the campaign lacked an overarching narrative that could easily communicate our progressive proposals,” Mulcair wrote. “This became apparent when our commitment to balancing the budget overshadowed our social democratic economic vision.”

Translation: We thought we’d get more votes by tacking to the centre. We were wrong.

But in politics, as in life, it’s not just what you’re selling, but who’s fronting the pitch. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s sunny, telegenic ways have upped the leadership ante. No other Canadian politician in recent memory has so quickly and thoroughly changed the image of government through sheer force of personality. It will take a lot for the public to tire of happy, open government. And if you’ve already lost once, as Mulcair has, it’s harder to bounce back and say you’re offering something new and better.

A leftward tilt would, of course, signify a change in direction for the NDP. But would the electorate buy it coming from Mulcair? A former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister, Mulcair was no “union guy” and never toted a copy of Das Kapital. One of the reasons the NDP chose him as leader was the hope that he could appeal to the more centrist voters who are the NDP’s key to winning power — or who were, until they decided to go Liberal.

Again, the NDP can draw lessons from south of the border. One of the reasons for Sanders’ appeal is his authenticity. Thoughout his thirty years in politics, Sanders consistently has trumpeted the same left-of-center message. No one can accuse him of tailoring his message to win power. He walks the walk — and so he presents as the perfect messenger for those who share his ideas.

Does that mean that the NDP needs its own version of Sanders to get Canadian voters to start “feeling the bern”? Will Stephen Lewis come out of retirement? Will David Suzuki enter politics? Will Mike Layton step into his late father’s shoes on the federal scene?

As American politics is showing, these days anything can happen. But one thing is clear: If Mulcair does not succeed in polling 70 per cent in next month’s leadership vote, he might have no choice but to step aside.

Tasha Kheiriddin is a political writer and broadcaster who frequently comments in both English and French. After practising law and a stint in the government of Mike Harris, Tasha became the Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and co-wrote the 2005 bestseller, Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution. Tasha moved back to Montreal in 2006 and served as vice-president of the Montreal Economic Institute, and later director for Quebec of the Fraser Institute, while also lecturing on conservative politics at McGill University. Tasha now lives in Whitby, Ontario with her daughter Zara, born in 2009.

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