But by that definition -- 20 years in political office -- the Conservatives have more than 20 MPs running for re-election who could wear the same label.
Mulcair, who is 60, first joined the NDP in his early twenties. He entered politics as a provincial representative in Quebec's legislature in 1994 and has been in the political arena ever since.
Prior to his time in office Mulcair was a lawyer for the government of Quebec, where he is credited with exposing sexual misconduct by doctors and lawyers.
His first taste of politics was as president of what is now the McGill Law Students Association.
As the election got underway, the Conservatives released an advertisement calling Mulcair a "career politician" that Canada can't afford, and started a petition demanding that the NDP pay back $2.7 million for a satellite offices controversy that is before the courts.
The NDP is accused of using government money for partisan purposes to create outreach offices, but the party maintains it was abiding by the rules when it opened the offices prior to spending regulation changes.
The Tories took issue with that, and with how long Mulcair has worked in public office as well.
"Sign the petition to tell career politician @ThomasMulcair and his NDP to pay back the $2.7 million they owe taxpayers," read a Conservative party tweet.
Looking at MP CVs
The party's disdain for long-serving politicians is puzzling given some MP CVs.
The Tyee examined Conservative MPs elected to Parliament who are running again this year, and found that more than 20 of the 121 members currently in office have been in politics more than two decades, or since their early twenties in the cases of those under 40.
Some have been in different levels of government for years, such as Bernard Valcourt who was an MP under Brian Mulroney in 1984.
After losing his seat in 1993, Valcourt went back to his home province and spent years as a provincial representative in the New Brunswick legislature.
Conservative MP Rob Nicholson also got his start in 1984 with the Mulroney government.
Nicholson lost his seat along with much of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1993, and sat as a school trustee and councillor in Niagara Falls before returning to federal politics in 2004.
There are also younger members with long political careers, such as 36-year-old Pierre Poilievre, the minister of employment and social development, who advised on the Conservative party on policy before being elected as an MP in 2004 when he was 25.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper himself has been involved in politics for more than 20 years, first elected with the Reform Party in 1993.
Like Mulcair his interest in politics started early, and he was a member of the Young Liberals, which is for those 25 and under.
Harper was also the president of the National Citizens Coalition and involved with the modern Conservative party.
A 2011 Globe and Mail article examined all three parties and found the Conservatives had the lowest average amount of years in public office during that election.
But the article showed there was little difference in the number of career politicians in that race.
What's wrong with a career politician anyway?
Most people would likely prefer to have their car fixed by a career mechanic, or take their sick child to a career paediatrician.
Yet for some reason, the idea of a career politician is so undesirable that politicians will use the label to smear each other.
University of B.C. political science professor Maxwell Cameron said these days people seem to see fewer redeeming qualities in the political class, and that leads to the animosity.
"It's part of the larger trend in our society for politics to be seen as a despised profession," he said. "People do fear [that] professional politicians operate in a bubble in which they are not connected to the concerns of ordinary Canadians."
Cameron said there's an increased perception that politicians are just telling the public what they want to hear, fostering a deep mistrust.
The career politician offers knowledge and expertise that is acquired over time working in the system, but that's not all that government is about, Cameron said.
"You don't want politics completely dominated by professionals," he said. "That alienates the public, and the public wants to feel politics is open to people from a wide range of backgrounds."
Original Article
Source: thetyee.ca/
Author: Jeremy J. Nuttall
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