Thomas Mulcair - Photo by Matt Liggins, Flickr

The NDP’s leadership race has hardly begun and it’s already promising, at least in its excitement. For now, the race is led by candidate Brian Topp, the only officially registered contender.

Evidently, we need more than one candidate to call it a race. And this is why all eyes are on Thomas Mulcair, who in turn is taking his time to commit, although everyone knows he will run. So much so that even if he is as yet mum, he already attracts a fair share of pot-shots from Brian Topp’s campaigners. He is indeed, although still an unofficial candidate, the main target of Brian Topp’s followers. Even if we see another candidate officially join the race, the competition will be between these two.

The new dynamics, created within the NDP (thanks to the considerable gains made in Quebec) have already left some traces. The NDP’s dominant theme is now along the lines of which candidate will be able to consolidate the Quebec gains, while at the same time ensure growth in other parts of the country; especially in the West.

With the participation of other candidates such as Peter Julian, who could join in the adventure, this particular race for the leadership should be quite stimulating – something that hasn’t happened in quite some time.

The prize, to say the least, is a worthy one. Not only will the winner become de facto leader of the official opposition, he or she will also be handed the keys to a very comfortable home. Yet, at the same time, challenges will be abound for the new leader – challenges that demand a mastership not easily learned on the job.

The chosen-one by NDP members will first have to face a Prime Minister in full possession of his strengths, with the added asset of having won a parliamentary majority. Then, this new leader will be in charge of a fairly inexperienced caucus. Should Brian Topp win, he will not even have a seat in the House of Commons – a matter that should be of utmost importance to the NDP.

Another challenge, no matter who wins the race, will be to engage the population in the same manner Jack Layton did. Because, without a doubt, it is Jack Layton’s contagious charisma that allowed such electoral success. This challenge will be a great one for whoever wins in March 2012.

A candidate such as Peter Julian could have a strategic role in the process. Even though he hasn’t the profile of a Mulcair or a Topp, the very fact that Julian is bilingual and has a good knowledge of the country all around, will no doubt win him a number of supporters. If the race to be leader isn’t resolved the first time around, his partisans could find themselves in the very strategic position of being the ones to tip the scales.

The race will also be important in the sense that it should rouse ongoing media attention, which in turn will have the effect of allowing the NDP to gain a greater place in Canadian politics in the coming months.

However, such degree of attention could prove to be negative should members of the NDP and its candidates lose sight of their primary goal – which can happen during a leadership race.

The NDP’s members have the ball in their court.

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Translation Monique Kroeger