Canada Time to topple Tories: Layton
Filed Under Kitchen Curtain | Posted on February 24, 2008
NDP Leader Jack Layton is urging other opposition MPs to join him in opposing Tuesday’s federal budget in a bid to topple the Conservative minority government. Unless the Liberals are willing to vote down the budget, there’s a chance Prime Minister Stephen Harper will govern until October, 2009, the date for the next vote that has been set in legislation, Layton said yesterday.Dion has said he will wait to see what’s in the budget before deciding whether to vote to bring down the government.(Dion) doesn’t want to form a formal alliance because he’s afraid people might say `You’re supporting Mr. Harper,’ Layton said yesterday, after a meeting with the Toronto Star’s editorial board.He’s trying to pretend he’s not, while in fact the Official Opposition is allowing Mr. Harper to effect an agenda that is just so wrong. The Liberals abstained from the vote on the Tories’ economic statement last fall %26ndash; a decision that effectively gives Harper the majority he wants, Layton said.Whether they sit, whether they walk out, whether they hide behind the curtain, they are effectively becoming part of the Conservative agenda. Canadians never gave Mr. Harper that kind of majority. But Mr. Dion is giving him that kind of mandate %26ndash; on the war, on the economy, Layton said.Layton isn’t waiting to see the budget before passing judgment. Yesterday, he denounced the financial blueprint. The budget is taking the country dramatically in the wrong direction, he said. It is going to result in more and more working families incredibly squeezed. With the Liberals and Conservatives nearing a compromise on the extension of Canada’s Afghanistan mission, an election looks increasingly unlikely on that issue.That leaves the budget as the remaining major policy on the horizon that might justify an election.The budget is a critical time. My view is that the primary consideration in politics should be doing what’s right, not necessarily what protects your seats, Layton said in a pointed jab at the Liberals.During his meeting with the Star editorial board, Layton said the NDP is preparing a poverty action plan that includes initiatives from the party’s MPs, such as boosting the stock of affordable housing, as well as sets targets for reducing the number of Canadians in poverty.However, Layton said targets are meaningless without a concrete plan to make them happen.I’m tied of sanctimony that gets wrapped up in targets. Let’s have actual spending decisions that generate a difference in people’s lives. That’s what our program is going to focus on, said Layton, who was joined by MPs Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park) and Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina).He also acknowledged that he knew his party’s call to immediately withdraw troops from Kandahar would run into opposition.We knew that wasn’t going to be portrayed in a particularly popular fashion but we felt it was the right thing to do and we still do, he said.
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