‘ I WAS FOR CLARITY. THE NDP ARE FOR OBSCURITY’

OTTAWA — Former prime minister Jean Chretien has warned voters that if they vote for NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, they are “taking a chance” because of his “irresponsible” pledge to rip up the Clarity Act.

Chretien made the remarks on the weekend to journalists after speaking to Liberal supporters gathered to open the campaign office of Mauril Belanger, the party’s candidate in Ottawa-Vanier.

“It’s irresponsible,” Chretien said Saturday of the NDP’s policy on Quebec, which comes from the party’s so-called Sherbrooke Declaration in 2005. That policy recognizes that if Quebec separatists get 50 per cent, plus one, of the vote in the next referendum, they win.

“They are taking a chance when a party says that,” Chretien said of the country’s voters. “And for us, I was clear on that. It’s why the law was called the Clarity Act.”

Chretien reiterated this message on Sunday afternoon when he appeared on the campaign trail in Hamilton, Ont., alongside Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.

He told a rally that Mulcair would put the possibility of Quebec separation back on the table by repealing the Clarity Act.

Also on Sunday, while campaigning in Vancouver, Mulcair dismissed Chretien’s criticism as something that paled in comparison with other issues being discussed in the election.

“I’ll let Justin Trudeau continue with his golden oldies tour and bring out Jean Chretien today and start talking about the quarrels of the past,” Mulcair said after making a senior health-care announcement.

On Saturday, speaking to Belanger’s supporters at a packed campaign office, Chretien didn’t restrain himself in his criticism of the NDP.

“I was for clarity. The NDP are for obscurity. Confusion. It’s democracy. You can go the way you want, but you have to know what you are voting for or against. And this is what we are demanding.”