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“The goal of the exercise is to be able to communicate to a larger public, what social democracy is, it’s about removing inequalities in our society.”

Over the course of the three day convention, nearly 2,000 delegates also attended election readiness seminars, and heard from a top Obama-for-America field organizer about how to mobilize support.

Mulcair told reporters at the close of the convention that the NDP is working with some of those experts in order to adopt the techniques and use them in Canada _ including in some of the critical suburban ridings in the Greater Toronto Area.

The NDP formed official opposition during the 2011 election but more than half its seats are in Quebec.

“We’re doing the groundwork, we’re reaching out beyond our traditional base, we’re working with those cultural communities, we’re connecting with people who share our values and we’re going to make them understand that we’re going to be there for them after an election when we form a government,” Mulcair said.

At the same time, the NDP leader is refusing to talk about the Liberal leadership race, and even less about the presumed winner, Justin Trudeau. Mulcair’s latest tactic has been to frame the New Democrats as the only true competition against the Conservatives — a scenario where the Liberals bleed away any remaining hold on progressive voters.

“The Liberals are the ones who said there was a blue door and a red door,” Mulcair said of a line used by former leader Michael Ignatieff in the 2011 election campaign.