Topp's Call for Tax Hikes Brings NDP Race into Focus

A leading NDP leadership candidate wants to raise your taxes. Suddenly, the Tories can't wait until March 24.

Brian Topp, the former party president of the NDP who's now running for its leadership, said he would push for income tax increases on the wealthiest Canadians, in addition to corporate tax increases and maybe even sales tax upticks. Well, we guess we know what the first Tory attack ads will be if Topp wins the leadership race on March 24, at least. We also know that with this announcement, the NDP race is turning into an actual, veritable, competition over how the party should position itself for the future.

For example, earlier this week, candidate Nathan Cullen, who would make for a Jack Layton doppelganger if he grew a mustache, made waves by saying he would run on a proposal to meet with the Green and Liberal parties to discuss running just one candidate against Conservatives in each riding to increase their chances of unseating the Harper government. Likewise, Thomas Mulcair has clearly taken on the mantle of the Quebec candidate by voicing his support for proposals to require all federally regulated businesses in Quebec to provide services in French, while English would be optional. And then there's Paul Dewar, who's just a nice, intelligent guy, but without much of a cohesive vision just yet, even if he does have a pretty decent social media campaign underway. Oh, and Romeo Saganash is in there too. He definitely would win the race if it was for best hair.