The NDP has launched a 6½-month leadership race to replace Jack Layton, with top contenders still mulling an entry into a campaign that will cost them up to $500,000 and culminate in Toronto on March 24.
As Olivia Chow, Mr. Layton's wife, confirmed on Friday that she will stay neutral in the leadership race, potential candidates applauded the NDP federal council for establishing rules that were deemed fair and accessible. Actual campaign launches are expected to occur after New Democrat MPs gather in Quebec City next week. Possible contenders include NDP president Brian Topp, House Leader Thomas Mulcair and MPs such as Paul Dewar, Peggy Nash and Peter Julian.
Each candidate will have to pay an entry fee of $15,000 to the party, and every NDP member as of Feb. 18 will have a vote in the race. Contrary to the rules that applied in 2003, the NDP is not setting aside a specific portion of the vote for labour unions.
The NDP currently has more than 80,000 members across the country, but only a few thousand of them are in Quebec, the party's main source of MPs in the House. The campaign will offer a key opportunity for the party to grow its base in the province, which fuelled calls in the party for a campaign lasting into the spring.
Speaking to reporters, Ms. Chow said it would be unfair to other candidates if she endorsed one of them, given her close personal and political ties to the beloved former leader, who died last month.
"There are lots of amazing talents in the NDP. … For me to comment that one person is better than another, I don't think it's right," said Ms. Chow, who would have the potential to sway many NDP members at the leadership convention.
She said that she will use her vote, but that she will stay neutral in public.
Ms. Chow added that Mr. Layton saw the good in everyone, and did not favour a specific candidate to replace him. "I don't believe he would pick one over another, it's not his style," she said.
She called on the NDP to remain united throughout the leadership race, adding that New Democrats have to fight bogus and groundless Conservative attacks against the party's ties to the union movement. "If the Conservatives feel insecure, I understand why," Ms. Chow said.
Meanwhile, a Canadian Press/Harris-Decima survey found that a strong majority of respondents in every region of the country is opposed to a merger between the NDP and the Liberal Party of Canada.
The recent poll of just over 1,000 respondents found that 63 per cent opposed a merger and just 24 per cent supported the idea, a trend that covered income, age and gender groups across Canada's regions.
Pollster Allan Gregg of Harris-Decima said the results suggest both Liberals and New Democrats "have their work cut out for them for the foreseeable future."
"The public opposition to a merger – and especially the lack of appetite among Liberal and NDP partisans – makes it unlikely that this notion is going to be embraced by any credible champion any time soon," he said.
With a report from The Canadian Press