The Vancouver Sun reports in its Saturday edition senior Conservatives and New Democrats are defending Thomas Mulcair's portrayal of a period in early 2007 when the NDP leader -- then with the provincial Liberals in Quebec -- was in private talks with headhunters from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office. The Sun's Peter O'Neil writes they challenged the picture painted in a Maclean's magazine article last week of Mr. Mulcair as an unprincipled opportunist who was prepared to join a Conservative government, and even be a candidate. The article quoted sources, including a former Harper aide now allied with the Liberals, alleging Mr. Mulcair ultimately decided against the move for financial reasons, before agreeing to become Jack Layton's NDP lieutenant in Quebec. Two Conservatives said last week that their recollection supports Mr. Mulcair's assertion that talks broke off over his strong disagreement with the Harper government's environmental policy. "Money was never the issue," one source told The Sun via e-mail. He supported the view of the second source, who told The Sun that Conservatives determined during two sets of talks that Mr. Mulcair was "far out there" on issues like climate change.