In contrast, on Iraq, Tom Mulcair’s strategy is to push the Liberals on questions for which the Liberals have no answers. Mulcair asks about mission definition and timeline. NDP MPs ask about the Liberals’ much-promised deradicalization strategy. They ask about plans to shut down the flow of foreign fighters. About steps being taken to block terrorist funding. Trudeau provides no answers because he has none.

On the upcoming budget, Ambrose asks about deficit numbers, maintaining the unhelpful impression that Conservatives want deep cuts and balanced budgets at all costs. Tom Mulcair asks about Canadians’ incomes. He calls the Liberals “incompetent” over the loss of 2,800 positions at Bombardier. He wonders “when is the Prime Minister going to act” on manufacturing jobs. He calls the Liberals’ broken promise on the Canada Wheat Board “shocking.” He keeps a spotlight on the TPP. Trudeau has no answers.

And were it not for the weight pulling down Tom Mulcair since the NDP’s poor campaign, the contrast with Ambrose would be even clearer. Daily in Question Period, Mulcair holds the Liberals to account. Conservatives demand the Liberals break more promises.

Without a strong NDP, Morneau, Freeland and the other neo-liberals would move their party further right – back to the two-party, elite politics that sets in when the NDP is weak. Politics that stacks the deck against lower-income and middle class Canadians.