GATINEAU, QUE.—New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair walked away without taking any questions from the media after delivering his campaign speech across the river from Parliament Hill.

“It’s just a statement for today,” NDP senior campaign adviser Brad Lavigne said following the speech Sunday morning when asked why the party leader, who polls suggest is within reach of becoming the next prime minister in the Oct. 19 election, refused to answer any questions.

“Thanks, we’ll see you soon,” Lavigne said after he was again asked to explain why that was the case.

The NDP is entering this federal election campaign in a very different position than ever before and the decision not to risk overshadowing a tightly scripted message — a stump speech read from a teleprompter — is one sign that they will handle things differently too.

Mulcair was the only party leader who did not accept questions after his speech.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, notorious for how rare he is available to media, took five questions from reporters outside Rideau Hall Sunday morning.

Those questions had conditions, though: the questions were restricted to those media outlets that have agreed to go on tour with the Conservatives, at a cost of $12,500 a week.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who launched his campaign in Vancouver several hours after the other two, was prepared to answer more questions than the seven reporters there had for him.

“Unlike the other guys, I tend to take a lot of questions,” Trudeau said, pointedly, although there have been days when that was not the case.

Karl Bélanger, principal secretary to Mulcair, sent a statement by email Sunday to explain the choice.

“The NDP leader took questions basically every day, two three times a day, for the past two weeks. Today, ‎Tom Mulcair delivered a strong message for change, offering Canadians a plan focused on helping middle class families get ahead,” Bélanger wrote.

Mulcair was available to media often, both at press conferences and individual interviews, throughout his eight-day campaign-style tour last week of southwestern and northern Ontario in July and again in New Brunswick.

Another sign that things have changed was the decision, announced Friday, to not participate in any debates unless other political party leaders, including Harper, are there too.

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That means Mulcair will likely not end up taking part in the debate organized by the consortium of broadcasters, which has always drawn the biggest audiences, because Harper has already declined to attend.

With files from Bruce Campion-Smith

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