In the last three or four years Canada’s late NDP leader seemed to be speaking less about the environment than in previous years. Maybe that was because he thought everyone knew of his environmental commitment; maybe because his advisors felt that environment was not the issue on which to win a lot of votes. The result has been a slight rise in the fortunes of the Green Party, not yet enough to take many seats from the NDP but certainly enough to set some warning bells ringing.

Some of the current NDP leadership campaigns seem to have recognized the weaknesses in the party’s environment platform and are addressing it with their own proposals. If any one of Thomas Mulcair, Nathan Cullen, Peggy Nash, or Paul Dewar wins the title of Leader of the Official Opposition, we can expect that the Conservative Government will be under renewed pressure on the environment in the House of Commons, with resulting implications, both good and bad, for Canadian business. Andrew Reeves has written a good analysis of the NDP Leadership candidate’s positions on the environment in Huffington Post. It’s worth a quick read and can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrew-reeves/thomas-mulcair-environment-policy_b_1178495.html