NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair asks a question in the House of Commons on Feb. 26, 2014.SEAN KILPATRICK/The Canadian Press
Thomas Mulcair has nearly tripled his daily output of questions in the House of Commons, going toe-to-toe with the Prime Minister for extended periods as part of an NDP strategy to boost the national visibility of its leader.
Mr. Mulcair typically asked three to five questions a day after he replaced Jack Layton as Leader of the NDP in March, 2012. He now uses his opportunity to dominate the first half of Question Period, using a strategy that started with the Senate scandal last year and has now extended to the major topics of the day. He always asks at least five questions a day, and regularly takes the first 14 questions allotted to the NDP when Stephen Harper is in the House.
According to a Globe and Mail compilation of all of the opposition leader's performances, Mr. Mulcair asks an average of 10 questions a day, up from 3.5 in his first 100 Question Periods as NDP Leader. Over the past 33 days in the House, Mr. Mulcair has asked 336 questions. (Read the graphic)
The NDP is trying to showcase Mr. Mulcair's abilities as a politician and a would-be prime minister. The party also wants to establish a contrast with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who has less speaking time in the House and lacks Mr. Mulcair's parliamentary experience.
"The exercise, in and of itself, has boosted my presence with Canadians," Mr. Mulcair said in an interview. "There is no question that, doing the job that we're doing, I often get patted on the back literally in airports, saying, 'Hey, you're asking exactly the questions that I'd ask, keep going.' "
Still, the NDP is offering fewer opportunities to other high-profile MPs – such as Peggy Nash, Nathan Cullen, Megan Leslie and Charlie Angus – to show their abilities and get media coverage. In addition, the NDP's dominance of Parliament does not guarantee that it will win the political games that happen outside of Ottawa, and in which Mr. Trudeau is proving a strong performer.
When the House of Commons is sitting, MPs have a 45-minute period to stand and ask 35-second questions to members of the government. As the Official Opposition, the NDP gets more questions than other parties.
The third-place Liberals tried to keep up with Mr. Mulcair for a while, but could not compete. Mr. Trudeau gets a block of three questions after Mr. Mulcair's first block of five questions, but then has to wait for another nine NDP questions before getting another round of three questions.
"One of the measurements of a political leader is whether he or she operates well in the adversarial circumstance that is Parliament, and particularly Question Period," said Liberal House Leader Dominic LeBlanc in an interview. "But we also think it is very valuable for the Liberals to have Justin Trudeau travelling to other parts of the country."
Mr. LeBlanc said the Liberal Party will continue to give more speaking opportunities to its backbenchers, contrary to the NDP.
"The NDP are obviously trying to build a cult of personality around Mr. Mulcair and banking on the fact that he likes to be a prosecutor-in-chief," Mr. LeBlanc said.
The NDP defended its strategy by pointing to an EKOS poll that showed a growing approval rating for Mr. Mulcair's handling of his job starting in the fall. Pollster Nik Nanos said Mr. Mulcair will have to keep going if he wants to maximize his impact.
"The NDP have potential for growth, but they need to build the brand of their leader," Mr. Nanos said. "The House of Commons is one platform where the New Democrat can frame Tom Mulcair as an alternative to Stephen Harper."
The NDP started to rely increasingly on Mr. Mulcair in May, 2013, when the Senate scandal erupted and he was told by his staff to "cross-examine" Mr. Harper. The strategy is now used on a daily basis.
"Overall, we have done a fairly good job of holding Stephen Harper to account, in a way that the Liberal predecessors like [Stéphane] Dion and [Michael] Ignatieff certainly couldn't do," Mr. Mulcair said. "I'll let people decide for themselves what they are seeing with the current [Liberal] Leader."
Daniel Leblanc is a parliamentary reporter in Ottawa.