Tory, NDP leadership races a study in contrast

This week, Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer announced he has joined the contest to head the federal Conservatives. Political observers sighed; when would a political star emerge to lead the party Stephen Harper left behind?

Also this week, no one announced he or she was running for the helm of the federal NDP party. Political observers shrugged; none expected anything different.

What are the lessons from seeing no heavy hitters in the Tory race, and apparently no hitters at all in the NDP one? Perhaps not what you think.

The Conservatives, holding 96 seats in the Commons, have not suffered the soul-destroying, leader-humiliating exercise Tom Mulcair endured last spring at his party’s Edmonton convention. Instead, the Tory boss stepped aside quietly, his party intact and well-funded. An interim leader was quickly chosen, and the party of the right chugged along, if not in flashy fashion, at least competently. So far, six people have filed papers in the contest to succeed Harper, and there could be as many as nine or 10 within weeks.

The rub, for some strategists, is that few of these wannabes are household names. Scheer, Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Deepak Obhrai. Who, you ask, are they? Tony Clement has some profile; ditto Kellie Leitch. But Conservative star Jason Kenney is out; Peter MacKay is out. It’s not yet known if Kevin O’Leary, Lisa Raitt, Steven Blaney, Chris Alexander or a few other names will join the fray. Or the declared candidates who haven’t yet filed formally.

This crowd of mostly unknowns speaks, in our opinion, not to a problem in the party, but to its health. People run for the leadership of a political entity because they believe it can win with them in charge. Maybe not immediately, but in time. Many of these candidates are young. They come from across the country. There is ethnic and gender diversity. They present a wide swath of ideas — from Leitch’s controversial Canadian values platform to Bernier’s government-be-damned libertarianism. There will be Christian Conservatives, big-tent Tories and narrow ideologues. The competition among them will be healthier for the Conservative party than any coronation of an early favourite or old face.

To the NDP, meanwhile, we can wish only the best. It has no current official leadership candidates — a sign that few of its adherents believe it can take power, even though Mulcair almost did.

But politics is a fickle business. Sometimes, stars eclipse others from the get-go, à la Justin Trudeau; as often, stars are born from good, old-fashioned toil. One of these parties seems to know that; the other should relearn it.