Tom Mulcair questions whether Alberta venue for NDP convention cost him
Defeated NDP leader suggests things might have turned out differently if party held review in Toronto instead
Tom Mulcair told a popular television host in Quebec that he might have held onto his job as NDP leader if the federal party's convention had been held somewhere other than Alberta.
Mulcair was issued a stinging rebuke by party delegates at the NDP convention in Edmonton last week, who voted 52 per cent in favour of holding a new leadership election.
Speaking on the Radio-Canada program Tout Le Monde en Parle on Sunday night, Mulcair mused about how the location of the convention may have affected the outcome of that vote.
"I was elected (NDP leader) by the membership of the party as a whole and, effectively, in Alberta, we had delegates in a particular place, so there were people from there," Mulcair said.
Host Guy A. Lepage interjected at that point and asked Mulcair if he thought the result would have been a different if the convention had been held in Toronto instead of Edmonton.
"Maybe," Mulcair replied, noting that the last NDP convention in Montreal went better for him.
At that convention in 2013, Mulcair received 92.3 per cent support from the delegates in attendance.
Mulcair went on to tell Lepage that he wasn't making excuses for his defeat.
"My obligation as the party leader is to rise above these regional differences and to try to find common ground," he said.