Kelly McParland: Mulcair sets the NDP leadership bar well below the norm

The NDP having had Opposition status was a fluke anyway. Mulcair did better than most of his predecessors.  Mulcair is relatively sane, and compared to the fanatics and lunatics that make up the bulk of the federal NDP caucus, he's the only reason they have a shred of credibility.

Thomas Mulcair wants to stay on as leader of the NDP and says he won’t resign. He says it’s up to NDP members to decide his fate, as they will … sort of … at an automatic leadership review in April.

In striving to hang onto his job he’s presenting his party with a ticklish puzzle: Mulcair suggests that all he needs to keep hanging his coat in the leader’s office is a vote of 50%-plus-one at the review. That might seem awfully low: Cheri DiNovo, who isn’t even an MP but has made it her goal in life to get rid of Mulcair — say’s it’s “absurd.” But what’s the party to do? Official NDP policy holds that Quebec should be allowed to break up Canada on a vote of 50%-plus-one. Are DiNovo and her supporters going to argue the NDP rates a higher standard than the country they seek to govern?...