Tom Mulcair calls Donald Trump a 'fascist,' urges Trudeau to denounce him

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair condemnedRepublican presidential front-runner Donald Trump as a "fascist" and criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeaufor not denouncingthe billionaire businessmogul.

"Donald Trump is a fascist. Let's not kid ourselves, let's not beat around the bush," Mulcairsaid in a question-and-answer session after a speech to party staff last Tuesday.

A video clip of Mulcair's toughly worded remarks surfaced Thursday, just over a week before he faces a leadership vote at his party's convention in Edmonton.

CBC News requested and received the video clip from Mulcair's office after it first appeared onBuzzFeed News, whichreported that it had obtained the video from the NDP. The 38-second clip has been edited, and does not include the question Mulcair is answering. The leader himself tweeted other clips from the event to his followers last week.

"I will not hesitate to point out the fact that Mr. Trudeau just shrugs his shoulders when he's asked about Donald Trump and says, 'Oh the relationship between Canada and the United States goes beyond any two individuals.' I'm sorry, if a fascist becomes president of the United States, I want to be on record as having opposed it long before that election," Mulcair says in the clip.

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Mulcair pointed to Trump's policy proposalto ban non-U.S. Muslims from entering the country and build a wall along the Mexican borderas proof of what he called fascist tendencies.

Trudeauwon't 'pick fight' with Trump

Trudeauhas been asked to assess Trump's meteoric rise and enduring popularity despitehis off-colour and offensive remarksbut has repeatedly demurred.

"I'm not going to pick a fight with Donald Trump right now. I'm not going to support him either, obviously," Trudeau said during a recent town hall meeting.

In a separate interview with Rosemary Barton on CBC News Network'sPower &Politics, Trudeau was askedwhy he wouldn't "speak more forcefully" against Trump. "Anti-Muslim rhetoric, anti-woman rhetoric, building walls against people why don't you say what you actually think about him?" Barton asked Trudeau.

Trudeau asked about Donald Trumps's campaign for the Republican nomination

9 years ago

Duration 0:41

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave an exclusive interview to Rosemary Barton host of Power and Politics

"I respect the American electoral process. I have faith in what [Abraham]Lincoln referred to as 'the better angels of American nature,' and I am looking forward to who I am going to work with after Nov. 4," Trudeausaid in the interview at the end of his official visit to Washington earlier this month.

Leadership review looms for Mulcair

Mulcair, who will be the subject of aleadership review vote at the party's convention April 8-10, also stridently denounced the Liberal government's budget last week, painting his party as a progressive bulwark against Liberal austerity.

The NDP leader has faced criticism from a number ofparty members for his performance in the last election campaign, but others in his parliamentary caucus and prominent union leadershave lined up behind him in advance of the vote.

A leadership election could be triggered if 50 per cent plus one delegate at the convention supports such a move.