Mr. Cullen's contemplations

The race to replace Adrian Dix as leader of the BCNDP is not even a week in and as we suggested last week, the calls for Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen to come home are seemingly growing in volume.

As we outlined on the blog last week, the departure of Mr. Dix has set in motion a fair amount of positioning from would be BC NDP leadership hopefuls, as they test the waters of a potential bid for the top job with the provincial party.

As recently as May, Mr. Cullen had suggested that he wasn't inclined to explore options with the BC NDP, however, with the announcement of Mr. Dix intending to step down, the dynamics of political considerations seem to be changing.

As media reports out of the nation's capital are showing today, some of the federal NDP contingent in Ottawa are also giving some thought to a return to the West Coast, with at least four of the NDP's BC collective going over their options.

Mr. Cullen it appears is one of them, though if the early reports are any indication, his ambitions are not quite as red hot as some of the others.

It's not the first time that the MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley has been sought out to offer his skills to the provincial scene. Mr. Cullen was one of the names on the list when the BC NDP decided in January of 2011that the time had come to seek out someone other than Carole James to lead the party.

However, after weighing both his political and personal situations at the time (he and his wife had recently had twins) Mr. Cullen chose to stay in Ottawa.

A few years later and the BC NDP has come knocking again, though one imagines that if he takes a pass this time around, the provincial window would most likely be closed for the foreseeable future.

Then again, that's what many said when Mr. Dix took charge and as we have seen in recent months, things can change rather quickly when it comes to the provincial leadership scene.

Some of the media accounts of the quest for the NDP leadership can be found below:

CFTK-- Nathan Cullen Warming Slightly to the Idea of Running For BC NDP Leader
CFTK-- Cullen Leadership (video)
CFNR-- Nathan Cullen Not Ruling Out BC NDP Leadership Candidacy
Opinion 250-- Cullen Giving Strong Consideration to Provincial NDP Leadership
Vancouver Sun-- MPs line up for a shot at B. C. NDP leadership
Vancouver Sun-- Four B. C. New Democrat MPs considering move to provincial politics
Vancouver Province-- Cullen is wary of entering race for top B. C. NDP job
Globe and Mail-- NDP race starts in earnest
Globe and Mail-- Cullen weighing pros and cons of B. C. NDP leadership run
National Post-- Federal MPs mulling run to replace Adrian Dix as B. C. NDP leader