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Thomas Mulcair, NDP Leader, Plans To Keep Beard

Posted: 04/15/2012 5:38 pm Updated: 04/15/2012 7:29 pm

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OTTAWA - The NDP may have a new face with Thomas Mulcair, but the new opposition leader doesn't plan on getting a new one for himself.

He says he is keeping his beard.

Mulcair's rich, neatly trimmed beard has generated a fair bit of media attention since he won the party's leadership last month.

There hasn't been a bearded prime minister since 1894 when Mackenzie Bowell was in office, and Bowell never had to run on his whiskers.

The Conservative senator made it into office when then-prime minister John Thompson suddenly died.

Mulcair told CTV's Question Period on Sunday that none of his advisers have suggested to him the beard is an image problem.

He says he has sported the growth since he was an 18-year-old law student at McGill University.

Mulcair says he grew whatever facial hair he could at the time to make himself look older.

(CTV)

PHOTOS: THOMAS MULCAIR
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  • Thomas Mulcair

    NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair comments on the federal budget in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Thursday March 29, 2012. If there was any doubt that Thomas Mulcair's political universe revolves around Quebec, it was dispelled by his response to Thursday's federal budget. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)

  • Thomas Mulcair

    NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair addresses the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa, Thursday April 5, 2012. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand)

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OTTAWA - The NDP may have a new face with Thomas Mulcair, but the new opposition leader doesn't plan on getting a new one for himself.He says he is keeping his beard.Mulcair's rich, neatly trimmed bea...
OTTAWA - The NDP may have a new face with Thomas Mulcair, but the new opposition leader doesn't plan on getting a new one for himself.He says he is keeping his beard.Mulcair's rich, neatly trimmed bea...
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MJinCanada
Safe from zombies until my 2nd cup of coffee
1770 Fans
07:08 PM on 04/17/2012
Keeping the beard is good.

It makes him stand out from the over-processed, cookie-cutter neocons.

And beards are a Canadian thing.
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fromdnorth
OK I checked my micro-bio (didn't know I had one
1787 Fans
10:14 AM on 04/17/2012
The Beard does not bother me. The Baird does...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tyler Austin
Women = people. Corperations ≠ people.
366 Fans
09:32 PM on 04/16/2012
It's always playoff season for the NDP.
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Liban CZ
326 Fans
07:40 PM on 04/16/2012
real man, needs a real beard, and Mr. Mulcair definitely got one.
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Spanky McFarlane
ILLEGITIMUS NON CARBORUNDUM.
179 Fans
01:05 PM on 04/16/2012
Tomas should keep the beard, but 'Tom' should shave it off to complete the separate images now being groomed.

*Perhaps Sasha Cohen & 'Lord Christopher Monckton' should be brought in to guide the NDP thru their transitional period to provide a few tips?

Just a thought.
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BritishColumbian
American/Canadian liberal
2673 Fans
12:31 PM on 04/16/2012
Tom or Thomas? Beard or no beard?...tabloid like fodder.
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Hugh Jenney
3 Fans
10:42 AM on 04/16/2012
Clean shaven = clean politician.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
75 Fans
03:50 PM on 04/16/2012
I guess canada has never had a dirty prime minister except that one guy.

I suspect some would argue about that though.
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Tyler Austin
Women = people. Corperations ≠ people.
366 Fans
09:32 PM on 04/16/2012
Honest Abe and Kim Il Jung says wot?
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TonyOnly
Truth matters.
332 Fans
10:12 AM on 04/16/2012
The NDP are on record as supporting the student protests in Montreal. Which are clearly being organized by the separatist Parti Quebecois and their union organizers.

Today the students endangered public safety by throwing bricks on the city's subway tracks in an effort to derail the trains.

So not only are the NDP supporting the separatist movement in Quebec, they're okay with using civil disobedience in their efforts to fish for student votes.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
75 Fans
03:48 PM on 04/16/2012
Is "clearly" the same thing as "actually"?

Supporting student protesters over tuition hikes is hardly prima facae evidence for supporting separatism in any case.

And was brick hurling in the context when the NDP stated their position, or was it just about tuition hikes?

Maybe a couple links would help clarify all this
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TonyOnly
Truth matters.
332 Fans
08:20 AM on 04/17/2012
Quebec NDP member Anne Marie Legace-Dawson, who lost her bid for a seat in parliament to a Liberal, was on a Montreal radio station at the same time the station was reporting the brick throwing incidents. It happened in 5 Metro stops. And she still supported the students and blamed the Liberal government for not succumbing to their demands. Which shouldn't be surprising considering support for unions, in any and all their forms, is at the core of NDP's socialist philosophy. Her husband is rich, by the way. So she doesn't necessarily speak from personal experience.
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Tyler Austin
Women = people. Corperations ≠ people.
366 Fans
09:33 PM on 04/16/2012
You're going to have to explain this better for me.
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TonyOnly
Truth matters.
332 Fans
08:35 AM on 04/17/2012
People who live in Quebec know that Quebec unions are a closed, separatist shop. Especially the public sector unions. They are almost completely made up of Francophone separatists. And they control the hiring.

I guess you must have missed the report on TV where separatist Parti Quebecois leader, Pauline Marois, joined a student protest and told them if they voted for her, she would repeal the tuition hikes. The only other political party that has publicly stated support for the student protesters is Quebec members of the federal NDP.

The NDP in Quebec is supporting civil disobedience that's being organized by separatist unions.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SeanMartin
Everything in moderation.
1411 Fans
02:16 AM on 04/16/2012
Tommy, with or without it, you are one seriously hot man.
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lulex
Made in Canada
147 Fans
 
12:45 AM on 04/16/2012
Jesus had a beard.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Imma Okay
37 Fans
01:33 AM on 04/16/2012
But he never existed so that makes your argument invalid.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SeanMartin
Everything in moderation.
1411 Fans
02:15 AM on 04/16/2012
Actually, He did — we have documentation of His trial before Pilate as written by a court clerk of the time. Now, if you wanted to ask whether or not He was indeed the son of God, that's something else altogether. But the man? Yes, he was quite real.
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Liban CZ
326 Fans
07:41 PM on 04/16/2012
Marx and Engles....
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brianmouland
25 Fans
 
11:18 PM on 04/15/2012
Keep it Tommy, you little beaverface you
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Tyler Austin
Women = people. Corperations ≠ people.
366 Fans
09:35 PM on 04/16/2012
Heh heh yeah baby. Lefties are better loves because we share where it counts. ;p
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cheeseplease
70 Fans
06:40 AM on 04/17/2012
Seriously? Beaverface? That is what you choose to call him for his beard? You must be a Con......
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
75 Fans
08:13 PM on 04/15/2012
The beard rocks!
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