Former Quebec Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair (right) shakes hands with NDP Leader Jack Layton following Layton's speech in Montreal on Monday, March 12, 2007 on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan. Mulcair may be getting ready to make the jump to federal politics, and has his eyes on the New Democrats. Layton confirms that Mulcair, who quit Jean Charest’s Liberal cabinet in February 2006 after a cabinet shuffle, has been talking with him. (CP PHOTO/Robert J. Galbraith)