Mulcair’s secret meetings with the Tories

[Locutus]

oh my



Talks with the PMO in 2007 about a job broke down over money, sources say. Mulcair says it was different sticking point.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair was in discussions in 2007 to join the Conservative party as a senior adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, discussions that several sources, including former senior Harper staffers, say was the first step in securing Mulcair to run as a Conservative candidate in 2008.

The negotiations between the Conservative government and the man who is today leader of the left-leaning official Opposition allegedly broke down over money: Mulcair wanted nearly double what Harper’s office offered, two sources tell Maclean’s.

Contacted today for comment, Mulcair says conversations about an advisory role with the government did occur, but talks broke down, not over money, but over the Conservatives’ environmental policies. Mulcair at the time had recently resigned as environment minister in Jean Charest’s Quebec Liberal government.

Mulcair says he was first approached by Quebec Conservative MP Lawrence Cannon in 2006 to join the party, and that discussions focused on joining the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, a government advisory agency. Mulcair says he followed up with Cannon’s chief of staff, Paul Therrien, and, finally, with Harper’s office.


more


Mulcair's secret meetings with the Tories - Macleans.ca

maybe thomas keeps remortgaging his house out of spite. :lol:

 

[mentalfloss]

This was known a while ago now.

It's no secret everyone wanted to give this guy a job.

 

[Locutus]

This was known a while ago now.

It's no secret everyone wanted to give this guy a job.

unless you knew before macleans did a few months ago, your link would be appreciated.

 

[mentalfloss]

Old talking points are old.

John Ivison
Thursday, Mar. 1, 2012

John Ivison: Mulcair considered Conservatives before joining NDP

 

[Locutus]

 

[Locutus]

there...I feel better after a morning dump. back to work.



Mulcair. Willing to be whatever you pay him to be.



John IvisonVerified account ‏@IvisonJ John Ivison retweeted National Post
I pass this on, since everything old is new again.










National PostVerified account ‏@nationalpost

Of interest this morning: @IvisonJ's 2012 story on Mulcair's talks about joining the Tories http://natpo.st/1EQFaEc

 

[personal touch]

how much money did they offer him?

 

[tay]

Aside from a couple of interesting tidbits here and there, the story will have seemed pretty familiar to those reporters on the Hill since 2007. And so I provide the following review to those Hill reporters who may have curious assignment editors hoping for a match to the Maclean’s piece on this slow #cdnpoli news day.


The gentle answer for those editors is most had already matched that story long ago:


The Montreal Gazette was the first to report on these “secret meetings” back in 2007 the details of the Mulcair-CPC meetings were not that day’s lead:





July 29, 2011






Unfortunately for reporters desperate for a new angle on what had been, thus far, a remarkably orderly, if unexpected, interim leadership selection process, NDP communications staffers were quick to point out that the claim that Mulcair had entertained offers from other parties before signing on with Team Orange was not, strictly -- or even loosely -- speaking, 'news' in any meaningful sense of the word.


Not only had those discussions had taken place nearly five years earlier -- in April 2007, when Mulcair was a political free agent following his falling out with the provincial Liberals -- but the fact that the NDP managed to win him over despite what must have seemed a tempting counteroffer from the governing Conservatives -- who, it bears noting, had a far stronger presence in Quebec at the time -- was widely understood -- and, in fact, reported -- back when it all went down.





Strategic Leak Watch: About that whole 'Mulcair considered joining the Tories' meme ... - Inside Politics






From the Montreal Gazette (04/20/2007)





While Mulcair had been actively courted behind the scenes by both the NDP and the Conservatives, sources close to him said he chose the NDP because he felt it is best positioned to make a difference when it comes to the environment.


Those sources said the Tories were interested in the ex-minister because they believed he could help improve their image on the environment, but he turned them down once he realized they were more interested in having him toe their line than in adopting his positions.




Mulcair to lead NDP's Quebec charge




And the only new allegation comes from Dimitri Soudas.

“All had been agreed upon. He would be a senior adviser to the Prime Minister on the Environment, and would run for us in the next election. Everything was pretty much agreed to,” Soudas said Monday. The Prime Minister was briefed on these negotiations, Soudas adds.
The sticking point, Soudas says, was salary. Soudas says he was authorized to go up to $180,000 a year without getting prior authorization from Harper. “He told me he wanted $300,000 a year and that was his bottom line and, basically, I got back to him, saying I couldn’t go higher that $180,000, and I never heard back from him ever again.

For who would you rather believe Soudas the former Harper stooge, or Mulcair?

Mulcair denies negotiating with Soudas. “I absolutely never spoke with Mr. Soudas at the time,” he says. “I had no intention of running for the Conservatives. “

"At the time, I was also weighing a substantial offer from a top law firm to join their environment section that was well beyond anything available in public service or with a party.

More to the point, though, money was never the issue, because I was still interested in serving my fellow citizens.”

How likely is it that a man seeking to become an environmental adviser to the Con government, would ask to be paid like a Prime Minister?

After he had just given up a lucrative job with the Quebec Liberals over a matter of principle, and would shortly after that meeting choose to run for a party that had no MPs in Quebec, and in what was probably the strongest Liberal riding.

And since he became NDP leader has consistently been Stephen Harper's most ferocious adversary...


But of course we know why this old story has been dragged out now. For the simple reason that Mulcair is now the greatest threat to the Harper Cons.

After focusing their attacks on Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau since he took over the party in 2013, the Conservatives may need to start worrying about the NDP's Thomas Mulcair. Because according to the latest polls, if an election were held today, the New Democrats would probably win.

ThreeHundredEight.com's latest weighted averages show the NDP in the lead in national voting intentions with 32 per cent support, up nine points in only two months since the party's stunning provincial victory in Alberta. The Conservatives have dropped three points since then, falling to second place with 29 per cent support. The Liberals have shed four points over that time, sliding to 27 per cent.

And somebody is panicking...








www.youtube.com/watch?v=u69mw2AZ36s&feature=player_embedded

 

[petros]

This money wasn't green enough nor phat enough. Yo!

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

This was known a while ago now.

It's no secret everyone wanted to give this guy a job.

Read this on CIBC facebook page yesterday. It is old news but they did bring up the point as to why it was circulating again. Apparently one of the involved parties used to work for Mr. Harper and now is working for Mr. Trudeau. Strategically this story can't help the NDP and damages the Tories. Theoretically this would leave the increasingly desperate and floundering Lieberals as a fall back.

 

[damngrumpy]

Actually I heard this some time ago like a year or two I think it was about employment.
I have worked for a lot of people I didn't like the money was good but at some point it
becomes reality it isn't going to work. Money or the environment Mulcair realized the fit
was not right deal fell through no big deal. A story about a story doesn't last to long as
is has no real appeal.
I am voting against Harper anyway its not so much a vote for something as it is against
Harper and his systematic destruction of our institutions. I will not vote for Trudeau
he supported C-51 designed to limit freedom of citizens in my view its not a terror fighting
bill it is too broad for that.
In this one short of being an axe murderer I will park my vote with Mulcair its time we had
some real change instead of the two other parties trading chairs every few years

 

[petros]

Environment my as$. It's all about the money and notoriety.

 

[Corduroy]

Stephen Harper tired to hire Tom Mulcair to be an environmental policy adviser for the Conservative party? Well, Harper just lost my vote.