OTTAWA - After letting his decision drag on for more than a month, Thomas Mulcair will officially announce his bid for the leadership of the New Democratic Party (NDP), two party MPs said Tuesday.
According to Jamie Nicholls, the MP fotr Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Mulcair will make the announcement next week in Montreal. Tarik Brahmi, the MP for Saint-Jean, also said Mulcair will run for the party leadership.
Mulcair has yet to announce his intentions.
Over the past few weeks, Mulcair has maintained that he is thinking about it and weighing his level of support across the country.
According to Nicholls, Mulcair has the support of about 30 MPs from different provinces, including his home base of Quebec. The NDP has 102 seats in the House of Commons.
For party president Brian Topp appears to have built a considerable lead in the leadership race, with significant endorsements for former NDP leader Ed Broadbent and former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow.
The only other Quebecer to have entered the race thus far is Roméo Saganash, while MPs Nathan Cullen and Paul Dewar are also bidding to replace Jack Layton, who died of cancer in August.
The NDP's leadership convention will be held March 24 in Toronto.
