Remembering Jack Layton

NDP supporter or not, there is no doubt that Jack Layton's contribution to the political sphere is a spectacle that should live on in the minds' of Canadians for many years to come. As MPs are enjoying their summer waiting for the House to resume in the fall, there will be a void when they return to find the seat for Toronto-Danforth without that warm charismatic smile that accompanied Jack wherever he went. He is a man who enjoyed politics despite the rigors and turmoil that can ensue on Parliament Hill and was passionate about the country and riding that he represented.

He guided the party into the last federal election, which saw the NDP gain support as Canadians looked to Jack and the NDP for change. Set to begin the fall term as official leader of the opposition, Jack's health took a toll on him and forced him to take a leave of absence shortly after the election. Being able to guide the party to new heights and being able to witness it all unfold would have been a blessing and a gift for Mr. Layton. However, knowing the fantastic position of the party and the strides it has made with him leading the way, somewhere Jack is smiling down upon this great country.

To all of his family, friends, and loved-ones, on behalf of Cole and I and the Real Canadian Politics Community, I'd  like to extend our deepest condolences. We'll keep the Layton family, as well as Jack, in our thoughts and prayers.

Dear Afghanistan, we're not going anywhere yet!

The Conservative Government has finally unveiled the plan for our troops in Afghanistan, and surprise, surprise... we aren't going anywhere.

Canadian troops will no longer be used in active combat roles after 2011, rather the 950 troops will take on a strict training only role in the relatively safe city of Kabul. The Conservatives promise that not only will our troops not be used in combat, but they will only be training on safe bases, and will not be used in the dangerous Kandahar region.

Despite criticizing the Government for taking too long to outline their plan, the Liberals are generally happy with the decision. The plan takes into account many of the recommendations that the Liberals put forward, including the central idea that Canadian troops should remain in the country post the 2011 withdrawal date. The NDP however are not happy with the decision, and are asking the Conservatives to put the mission to a vote in the House. The Conservatives have retaliated saying that it is well within their authority to conduct training missions, and are pointing at the Haiti earthquake disaster for precedent. At the time, the Government sent troops to the Caribbean nation without a vote in the House.

I have to agree with the Conservatives and the Liberals in this matter: We can't leave the Afghan people this way. The Taliban Government has been toppled, but leaving the untrained Afghan military to keep them at bay won't work at all. The least we can do on our way out is to give them the training they need to keep their citizens safe, while they work to rebuild their nation.

We have been their for 9 years, and that is a long time. Over 150 Canadian soldiers have died, and that is far too many. The war is costing us over $1 billion per year, and that is far too much. But if we leave now, without training our replacements, will it all have been for nothing? I would hate to think that so many people have lost their lives for nothing.

Putting the registry in perspective

Conservatives, and many other Canadians, are upset about Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's decision to force his MPs to save the gun registry, but Liberal MP Scott Simms really put it in perspective today.

Simms was one of the eight Liberal MPs that voted in favour of scrapping the registry at second reading, but he has now told his colleagues that he has changed his mind, not only because Ignatieff ordered him too, but for his own personal reasons too.

Simms father, Reginald Simms, took his own life with a long gun in June of this year, prompting his son to change his vote, stating that even if the registry saves only one life, it will be worth it.

Simms has more than his father to think, he also stated that after the second reading he looked up into the gallery and saw a woman crying. He mouthed the words, "I'm sorry" to her, and now he plans to make good on his "mistake." It is believed that the woman in the gallery was Suzanne Laplante-Edwards, the mother of a girl killed in the L'Ecole Polytechnique massacre. It is unclear whether she will be in the gallery tonight.

Simms wasn't the only MP to change his mind for this reason. Liberal MP Michelle Simpson tweeted that a "Newfoundland colleague" put the registry in "unprecedented perspective."

With all Liberal MPs voting to save the registry, the Bloc voting to save the registry, and the NDP stating that they have "enough" MPs to save the registry, it looks like the Conservatives will lose the vote, and the registry will stand to live another parliamentary session.

More at the Toronto Star.

Layton Exercises Proper Politics

Jack Layton has his own views on politics like anyone else, and sure perhaps his opinion is regarded a little more than the average person, but he is the leader of the NDP so it makes sense. As the leader of one of the major political parties in Canada he has had to make many tough decisions along with the rest of the MPs that sit in the House of Commons. When it comes to being the head of the party, that adds extra stress and pressure to guide the party in the proper direction when it comes to the views of its members. Sometimes that means keeping your own views in check and allowing democracy and politics just to flow naturally.

A perfect example of this, is the position Layton is taking on the issue of the gun registry; allowing the members of his party to vote freely based on their own views. Despite having conflicting views with many members within his own party, he is not demanding all NDP MPs vote with him in a whip vote. Instead he allowing the process of democracy to take place freely and without constraint. This move has come under fire by many pundits and politicians such as Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff who stated, "Now they're [the NDP] are lined up with Stephen Harper against the police." Layton however, agrees with Ignatieff's stance on the gun registry and wants to save the program. Layton believes that the gun registry is not without its flaws and that needs to be addressed. He wants the registry to, "work for everybody," and the first step is not, "fix[ing] it by getting rid of it."

Despite allowing his party to vote freely on the issue, Jack Layton still plans on making his pitch to his MPs in hope that they follow his stance. The members of the NDP will not be punished if they decided to vote opposite of their leader. If anything, it shows that they have a spine and stand up for what they believe in, something lacking amongst individual politicians in this era. Instead of representing what the leader may believe, they go on their own belief by representing their riding like they were elected to do. This is an example of Real Canadian Politics.

Standing in the way of the Firearms Registry

I have tried to avoid righting anything about the gun registry in the interests of non-partisanship, but I feel that now is the time to weigh in on it. My colleague Chad is invited to argue this one with me if he so wishes.

The Firearms Registry was established in 1996 after the Chretien government passed bill C-68 in 1995. It requires all citizens owning a gun to purchase a license which costs $60-$80, and is renewable every 5 years on the holders birthday. It was created to make all guns traceable, thus reducing gun related crime.

While it is known that many crimes are committed with unregistered firearms, many crimes are committed with registered firearms. How many criminals have been put behind bars because of this program? How many lives have been saved?

The program cost taxpayers between $1.1-$3.6 million every year to operate, which in terms of savings lives is a small price to pay. Even if the system only saves a handful of lives, isn't it worth it? Can we really put a price on life?

Now, the Conservatives want to scrap the registry because they say it cost too much for what it does. It saves lives. $3.6 million is too much money for saving lives? Bill C-391 (the bill to scrap it) has passed second reading in the house and will proceed to third reading (which is the last vote) this fall. Conservative MPs will almost certainly vote in favour of it, while the Liberals will vote against it. In the previous votes, 8 Liberals voted in favour, however this time around Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has declared it a "whipped" vote which means that all Liberal MPs are required to vote with the party or face penalties.

With the Liberals voting against the bill, it all comes down to the 12 New Democrat MPs that voted in favour of it. The official NDP stance is against the bill, but Leader Jack Layton has yet to declare it a whipped vote which means MPs can vote however they want.

The NDP really does hold the fate of the Firearms Registry, and hopefully with the RCMP's recent announcement, they will vote against the bill.

The RCMP announced that they have completed a 40 page report showing that the "program is cost effective, efficient and an important tool for law enforcement." However, the report which was turned over to the government in February has not been publicly released yet. The Liberals are accusing the Conservatives of purposely withholding the report until after the vote to cover up the facts, and "The Liberal Party is demanding that the Harper government stop trying to cover up key facts in the gun registry debate and release an RCMP report that tells Canadians about its importance to public safety" in a statement released by the party.

Liberal Public Safety critic Mark Holland has submitted a letter to the Speaker of The House of Commons asking him to intervene and force the government to release the report.

And this isn't the first time that the Conservatives have seemingly withheld crucial information about the registry. After the second reading of the bill last November it was discovered that the government was in possession of a report that showed that police agencies accessed the registry an average of 10,818 time per day.

The RCMP isn't the only organisation standing in favour of the registry, the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs also believes that the registry is useful and important.

The program obviously saves lives, and if police forces are saying that they use this regularly than why would we get rid of it. This RCMP report needs to be released so that Canadians and MPs can see just how effective the program is. Hopefully with the release of this report, New Democrat MPs will vote against Bill C-391 even if they aren't "whipped" to do so.

Liberal Express goes bus-less

Michael Ignatieff is headed to Iqaluit to meet with locals in Nunavut, and understandably, the Liberal Express bus will not be joining them. Not to worry though, as Ignatieff already explained, the Liberal Express is much more than a bus; its about meeting Canadians all across the county, 10 provinces, 3 territories. As he has told us, time and time again, its about showing Canadians the "clear Liberal alternative", and welcoming them into he big red tent at the center of Canadian politics."

In other news, Liberal MP Bob Rae is holding a press conference in Ottawa to discuss the census and the recently released census documents. Ah, the census documents (and more of them here). They clearly show that StatsCan issued tons of warnings to the Government regarding why they shouldn't scrap the long form census. From the documents I have read, Tony Clement's assertion that StatsCan approved the scrapping of the long form has absolutely no truth to it. There is quite a bit of information to read over in these documents, and I haven't had time to read them all yet, but I am sure that there is more startling (or lack there of) revelations buried in them.

Following Bob Rae's statement, NDP Leader Jack Layton takes the stage to discuss aid to the areas in Saskatchewan affected by the recent flooding, but there is a good chance that the reporters will push the questions into the census direction.

And the Prime minister is out of service today; that is, he has no public engagements planned. He will be in Barrie tomorrow to help at a hockey tournament.

Public safety committee: we're back!

The Public Safety Committee is meeting today after the Conservatives called it to discuss airport security, after a YouTube video showed some Muslim women boarding an Air Canada jet with their faces covered, having never been checked by officials.

It is unclear how the opposition parties will react, although I expect they will cooperate; after all this is a situation that has outraged most Canadians. However, an early attempt by the opposition parties (in this same committee) to initiate a public inquiry into G8/G20 security was foiled after Conservative members successfully wasted enough time to run down the clock, thus resulting in the vote never happening. If the opposition wanted to play partisan games, they certainly could attempt to give the Conservatives a taste of  their own medicine, although I do believe that they will act in the best interests of Canadians by allowing an investigation into airport security.

In other news, Ignatieffs Quebec adviser, Jean-Marc Fournier, has returned to provincial politics, thus vacating his position in the Federal party. Both Ignatieff and Fournier expressed sadness by the decision, but Ignatieff has said that he will continue to call Fournier for advice in the province.

As far as the leaders go, the NDP are trying to "pull a liberal," as leader Jack Layton heads to lunch at a local Tim Hortons, BQ Leader Gille Duceppe is being interviewed about his 20 years in politics, Ignatieff is continuing on the Liberal Express as he prepares to head to Iqualuit, and Harper is finally visible again as he tours around some events in BC.

Jack Layton's Press Conference - Live blog

The CBC's Kady O'Malley will be live blogging today's NDP press conference. You can view it on CBC Politics or below:



Note that the above live blog is the property of the CBC and Kady O'Malley.

The force is weak with these ones

The NDP has responded to PMO Director of Communications Dimitri Soudas' statement about Jedi Knights residing in Canada with the following statement:

REALITY CHECK: Dimitri Soudas uses the Jedi defence

Dimitri Soudas created an instant internet classic with his line of defence on eliminating the Census long form:

"21,000 Canadians registered Jedi knight as a religion in the 2001 census.

Religion is asked every 10 years. We made the 40-page long form voluntary because government should not threaten prosecution or jail time to force Canadians to divulge unnecessary private and personal information. Canadians don't want the government at their doorstep at 10 o'clock at night while they may be doing something in their bedroom, like reading, because government wants to know how many bedrooms they have."

What do 21,000 Jedis have to do with the Long Form Census? Nothing. What does the long form census have to do with government officials showing up at 10 o'clock at night at Canadians' doors? Nothing. What does bedtime reading have to do with an accurate statistical portrait of our country's demographics? Nothing.

But there you have it: the spokesperson for the Prime Minister of Canada talking about Jedis.

The force is weak with these ones.

That last line a clear poke at the intelligence of not just Soudas, but the entire PMO, and seemingly Conservative party. Odd that the NDP are the only ones to have responded, although I suppose the NDP are often the first to respond to the Conservatives. Hard to tell if the Liberals will take the bait and go after the Cons for it, but so far nothing from them.

Its possible we won't hear from them for a few days as Ignatieff takes a much needed rest. The Liberal Express sits idle until Wednesday, when they start Quebec. Good luck.

NDP call committee sham

Well the NDP press conference is over, and I don’t think I can say that it was very successful for them. They started off by saying the the whole committee is a sham. Then they said that Iacobucci should not be on the committee because he has a conflict of interest because he is a former judge for Justice Ministry. They are implying that he could potentially be bribed by the Government. This is a pretty ridiculous claim; in my opinion he is just as likely to be bribed by the Government as anyone else on the committee. His former employment with the Government has nothing to do with him being more susceptible to bribes. One reporter pointed out that had the NDP not walked out of the meeting, they would have had a say in the appointment of members to the committee, and could have in fact vetoed Iacobucci.

Afghan detainee document details; now what, NDP?

Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson has announced that the members of the Ad Hoc Committee reviewing the Afghan detainee documents are: the Honourable Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, C.C., G.O.Q., the Honourable Frank Iacobucci, C.C., Q.C., and the Honourable Donald I. Brenner, Q.C.

For those of you that forgot, the Government and two of the opposition parties (Liberal and Bloc) arrived at a deal regarding months and months of conflict surrounding the release of Afghan detainee documents. The Government didn’t want them released, citing national security concerns, while the opposition wanted then release immediately after accusations of torture surfaced.

The deal they arrived at stated that an Ad Hoc committee of experts would be established to determine which documents could be released, and how to release them without jeopardizing national security. The Liberals and Bloc agreed that this was as close to fair as possible, while the NDP disagreed. The NDP was so disgruntled by this that they walked out of the meeting, and attempted to convince the house that this was a breach of parliamentary privilege, and even that the Government was in contempt of the house. Unfortunately for them, the Speaker ruled that the deal was acceptable.

With these latest details begin released, one might wonder what the NDP is going to do. Well luckily one doesn’t have to wait for long, as the NDP have scheduled a press conference at 3 pm. You can watch the liveblog courtesy of CBC and Kady O’Malley at 3 pm, or you can check back here later for the details.