Mulcair Finally Announces NDP Leadership Bid

Jack Layton's Quebec lieutenant brings the number of people seeking The Mustached One's job to six.

Thomas Mulcair, the NDP's deputy leader, finally made his bid for the party's leadership official today. Mulcair joins party president Brian Topp, former Cree leader Romeo Saganash, Ottawa MP Paul Dewar, B.C. MP Nathan Cullen, and rookie Nova Scotia MP Martin Singh in the race to succeed Jack Layton as the head of the Official Opposition. Mulcair was the party's lone MP from Quebec before its massive breakthrough in the province during the May 2 election, and he has been credited with orchestrating the "orange wave" that all but obliterated the Bloc Québécois. The leadership vote is set for the end of March, although the race is already shaping up as a dogfight between Mulcair and Topp, who announced his candidacy a month ago and has already lined up endorsements from party heavyweights such as Ed Broadbent and Roy Romanow. Mulcair has said he was waiting to make his entry official until he had done his due diligence in organizing his campaign.