Tom Mulcair

The Honourable
Tom Mulcair
PC
Mulcair in 2015
Leader of the Opposition
In office
March 24, 2012 – November 4, 2015
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterStephen Harper
Preceded byNycole Turmel
Succeeded byRona Ambrose
Leader of the New Democratic Party
In office
March 24, 2012 – October 1, 2017
Preceded byNycole Turmel (interim)
Succeeded byJagmeet Singh
Opposition House Leader
In office
May 26, 2011 – October 12, 2011
LeaderNycole Turmel (acting)
Preceded byDavid McGuinty
Succeeded byJoe Comartin
Member of Parliament
for Outremont
In office
September 17, 2007 – August 3, 2018
Preceded byJean Lapierre
Succeeded byRachel Bendayan (2019)
Quebec Minister of the Environment
In office
April 29, 2003 – February 27, 2006
PremierJean Charest
Preceded byAndré Boisclair
Succeeded byClaude Béchard
Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Chomedey
In office
September 12, 1994 – March 26, 2007
Preceded byLise Bacon
Succeeded byGuy Ouellette
Personal details
Born
Thomas Joseph Mulcair

(1954-10-24) October 24, 1954 (age 70)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Citizenship
  • Canada
  • France
Political partyNew Democratic
(1974–present)
Other political
affiliations		Quebec Liberal
(provincial; 1994–2007)
Spouse
Catherine Pinhas
​
(m. 1976)​
Children2
Residence(s)Beaconsfield, Quebec
Alma materMcGill University
Websitewww.thomasmulcair.ca

Thomas Joseph Mulcair PC (born October 24, 1954) is a Canadian politician and conservationist who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2012 to 2017 and leader of the Official Opposition from 2012 to 2015. He was elected to the House of Commons in 2007 and sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Outremont until 2018.

Mulcair was a senior civil servant in the Quebec provincial government, ran a private law practice, and taught law at the university level.[1] Mulcair joined the federal NDP in 1974[2] and was the provincial member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Chomedey in Laval from 1994 to 2007, holding the seat for the Quebec Liberal Party. He served as the minister of sustainable development, environment and parks from 2003 until 2006, in the Liberal government of Premier Jean Charest. Elected MP for Outremont in a by-election in 2007, he was named co-deputy leader of the NDP shortly afterwards, and won re-election to his seat three times. On May 26, 2011, he was named the New Democratic Party's Opposition house leader and also served as the NDP's Quebec lieutenant.

Mulcair was elected as the leader of the NDP on the fourth ballot of the 2012 leadership election. The NDP having the second-largest caucus in the House of Commons, Mulcair became the leader of the Official Opposition. As leader, he took the NDP to the centre. Though polls early in the 2015 federal election campaign indicated the possibility of an NDP minority government, the party lost just over half of its seats and resumed third-place status. During a leadership review vote, held at the 2016 federal NDP convention, 52% of the delegates voted to hold a leadership election in October 2017.[3] Mulcair stated he would remain leader until the party chose a replacement. He later announced in May 2016 that he would retire from politics and would not contest his riding in the next federal election.

Mulcair resigned his seat on August 3, 2018, in order to accept a position in the political science department of the University of Montreal. He has also been hired as an on-air political analyst for CJAD, CTV News Channel, and TVA.[4]

  1. ^ "About Tom Mulcair". NDP Official Website. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  2. ^ Smith, Joanna (March 16, 2012). "NDP Leadership: Thomas Mulcair draws on experience as Quebec environment minister". Toronto Star.
  3. ^ "Mulcair's weakness also his strength: he brought the NDP closer to the centre - CBC News". cbc.ca. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  4. ^ "Tom Mulcair quitting politics before next federal election". montrealgazette.com. May 15, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2018.