Civility paramount in NDP leadership race, Topp camp chided for mild criticism

OTTAWA - The NDP seems determined to set a new standard of civility for high-stakes leadership contests.

Any critical observation about a rival candidate's shortcomings or any disagreement over issues are apparently off-limits, deemed an affront to the memory of the late Jack Layton.

Perceived frontrunner Brian Topp found that out Friday after one of his supporters suggested putative rival Thomas Mulcair couldn't win seats for the party outside Quebec and another supporter dumped on Mulcair's proposal for a special, party-run, membership drive in Quebec.

The criticisms were mild by most partisan measures but were swiftly chided by Mulcair's team. And Topp himself took pains to distance himself from them.

Quebec MP Francois Lapointe, a Mulcair supporter, said he fears the barely begun leadership contest is already beginning to slip into personal attacks.

"It's an overall slide that I'm perceiving and I think it's wrong," Lapointe said.

"This is against Jack's spirit."

Layton, who died of cancer last month, championed a more civil, respectful approach to politics in his final months, although he was a feisty, partisan scrapper for much of his career.

Lapointe called on fellow New Democrats to stress positive reasons for supporting a particular candidate, without getting into the negative reasons for not supporting another.

Even as he expressed concern about the tone of the contest, Lapointe was careful not to point the finger at any specific New Democrat or any particular leadership camp. He refused to say whether Topp should disassociate himself from the comments of his supporters.

"Please, ask him. If I get involved, I'm taking that (negative) path and this is what I'm asking my colleagues not to do," he said.

The rebuke came after Topp, the party's president, added two more names to his impressive roster of endorsements. The list includes party icon and former leader Ed Broadbent and former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow.

Veteran New Brunswick MP Yvon Godin and rookie Quebec MP Alain Giguere announced Friday they're backing Topp to succeed Layton.

Giguere said he believes the Quebec-born Topp would be able to win power by consolidating the party's gains in Quebec from the last election and breaking new ground in the rest of the country. He doubted the ability of Mulcair, a Montreal MP and former Quebec cabinet minister, to do the same.

He said the party needs to win an additional 100 ridings in the next election. "These 100 ridings will not come from Quebec," he said.

"Thomas presently has not the capacity to win in the rest of Canada ... I don't see what is the support of Thomas outside of Quebec. I really don't see it."

Topp, who had been looking on uncomfortably as Giguere spoke with reporters, intervened eventually to stress his own view that Mulcair "will be a very good candidate across Canada."

"I don't have any issues with Tom Mulcair," Topp said. "He's a good colleague of mine. I'm not going to attack him today or at any time in this race."

Godin, meanwhile, reiterated his objections to Mulcair's plea for a party-run membership drive in Quebec. The province accounts for only about 1,700 of about 87,000 card-carrying NDP members across the country, even though it delivered 59 of the party's 103 seats in the May 2 election. Each member will be able to vote for the party's next leader on March 24.

Mulcair has said lack of members in Quebec puts him at a disadvantage and has hinted he may not contest the leadership unless the party helps level the playing field.

Godin said Mulcair's proposal "makes no sense." He pointed out that candidates have seven months to recruit new members and it's up to them, not the party, to boost Quebec's numbers.

Mulcair has taken his own mild shots at Topp. In a radio interview earlier this week, he contrasted his experience as a thrice-elected MP and thrice elected Quebec MNA with Topp's record as a longtime party organizer who "hasn't been elected to anything in his life."

Last week, Mulcair suggested Topp's speedy entry into the leadership race was disrespectful to Layton's memory.

But Topp refused Friday to even acknowledge shots have been taken.

"I don't think that there's been any personal attacks or that there will be any personal attacks. The NDP is the party of solidarity and we are all members of Jack Layton's team."

Two other MPs who have endorsed Mulcair stressed Friday that no one should presume Topp has a head start simply because he was first out of the gate and has already amassed a formidable list of supporters.

Montreal-area MP Jamie Nicholls said it's premature for Giguere to write off Mulcair's chances in the rest of the country.

"We all say that a leadership campaign is not a sprint, it's a marathon," Nicholls said. "It's going to be a long campaign and to say that one candidate won't be able to build support outside of Quebec is particularly premature."

So far, only Topp and Quebec MP Romeo Saganash have formally declared their intention to seek the leadership.

Other MPs are still weighing their chances, including Peter Julian and Nathan Cullen of British Columbia, Pat Martin and Niki Ashton of Manitoba, Peggy Nash and Paul Dewar from Ontario and Nova Scotia's Robert Chisholm.