A day after former NDP leader Ed Broadbent unleashed a surprising verbal attack on leadership race frontrunner Thomas Mulcair, the candidate he backed is coming to his defence.
Brian Topp told CTV's Power Play on Friday that Broadbent was simply raising "important issues" when he accused Mulcair of trying to move the NDP to the centre of the political spectrum and taking undue credit for the party's electoral success.
- Join the debate on
"He's one of the most respected members of our party and I think he's raised some important issues that I'm raising too," Topp said.
In media interviews Thursday, Broadbent questioned Mulcair's suitability for the top NDP job, saying he would take the party away from its core values.
Broadbent also accused Mulcair of trying to take credit for the NDP's electoral surge in Quebec last year, and maligning the team responsible for the party's success -- including the late leader Jack Layton.
"I don't agree that we should take our party to the centre," Topp said Friday. "I think if we do that we end up competing with the Liberal party, and if there are two Liberal parties in front of the people of Canada, people will vote for the real one."
Broadbent's attack on Mulcair a week before NDP members gather in Toronto to elect a new leader has sparked much criticism.
Mulcair's supporters and some political observers say Broadbent's public tongue-lashing is a "desperate" attempt to sway votes in Topp's favour.
In an interview with CTV's Daniele Hamamdjian Friday, Mulcair didn't respond directly to Broadbent's specific accusations, but said his campaign has been nothing but "positive" and "upbeat."
"My campaign has been about why people should vote for me, not why they shouldn't vote for somebody else," Mulcair said, adding that he's been merely trying to reach out to people who traditionally don't vote for the NDP.
Topp dismissed suggestions that Broadbent's comments will cause a rift in the party or poison his own campaign.
"This is the Ed that we all know and love. He always speaks out on big issues," he said.
"It's not a civil war that we're having here – we're going to come together as a team when this is over – but we are having an important debate over what direction the party should be going in."
In an interview Thursday with The Canadian Press, Broadbent denied his blunt talk was a last-minute "Stop Mulcair" campaign and said he simply felt the need to set the record straight.
Broadbent said he's been "deeply disappointed" by Mulcair's suggestions that he's had to fight to modernize the party's approach to campaigning in Quebec, when it was Layton and his inner circle who developed a strategy that saw the party rise to Official Opposition status.
Broadbent's comments continued to reverberate in political circles Friday, with many wondering how they will affect the outcome of the NDP leadership convention.
Whether Broadbent is trying to launch a "Stop Mulcair" campaign or not, political observer Alice Funke of Punditsguide.ca told Power Play the idea "does not seem to be prevalent among the membership."
