[LINK] "Mulcair poised for clear shot at becoming prime minister as NDP surges in polls"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson argues that Thomas Mulcair and the NDP are on the verge of a breakthrough. Might they make a breakthrough in the Greater Toronto Area, as he suggests?

In major addresses to the Montreal Board of Trade and Toronto’s Economic Club of Canada, Thomas Mulcair will pledge an NDP government to reviving Canada’s flagging manufacturing sector.

Voters might be expected to shrug off such claims from a party of social democrats. But with the NDP surging in the polls, Mr. Mulcair has a clear shot at becoming prime minister, if he can reassure voters who worry about letting New Democrats manage the national economy.

[. . .]

All of this follows in the wake of the latest good news for the official Opposition: a Corporate Research Associates poll that shows the New Democrats resurgent in Atlantic Canada – from 14 per cent to 29 per cent in the past three months – at the expense of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, who sagged from 56 per cent to 43 per cent.

But what really matters is Quebec, where there are strong signs that Mr. Mulcair may be able to repeat the late Jack Layton’s miraculous breakthrough of 2011. An Ipsos poll released last week has the NDP at 41 per cent in Quebec, with the Liberals far behind at 25 per cent.

Perhaps Gilles Duceppe’s decision Wednesday to return as leader will revive the Bloc Quebecois franchise. But from this distance, the Bloc appears to have swapped one dead horse for another.