PTC Special : Tom Mulcair to retire
PTC Special : Tom Mulcair to retire: Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair, who was replaced by Jagmeet Singh early this year, is all set to resign as MP from Montreal. His resignation is expected early in the new year.
Tom Mulcair is probably waiting for the spring session of Parliament to complete.Though he has not announced his future plans, he is expected to go academics. It is still not known which University or institution he will join to pursue his interest in teaching.
His comments before the new leadership contest that the President should be ideally a sitting Member of Parliament had evoked reactions as Jagmeet Singh was not represented on House of Commons.
Mulcair, a former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister, scored a stunning 2007 by-election upset for the federal NDP in the Montreal riding of Outremont, until then a Liberal stronghold
He became leader of the NDP in 2012 in a contest sparked by the death of Jack Layton. Jack Layton, who died of cancer, had led the party to official Opposition status for the first time in its history.At present, NDP is number three party after the ruling Liberals and main Opposition Conservatives.
Tom Mulcair will thus become second leader of a federal party to quit current Parliament. Earlier, former Prime Minister and leader of Conservatives Stephen Harper had quit Parliament and leadership.
Stephen Harprer has gone back to legal practice.
The case of Tom Mulcair has been different. Within six months following disappointing election results in 2015, when the party dropped back into a distant third place, Mulcair became the first federal leader ever rejected by his own party members in a leadership review vote.
Jagmeet Singh took over the helm of the party this fall.
-PTC News
