The recent federal election result was predictable — Harper got his long sought majority — but how it came about was totally unpredictable and astonishing. There’s an interesting side-story that isn’t getting much coverage.
The left-leaning media did their level best to piggyback Ignatieff and his Liberal crew to victory but failed. When it became obvious that Plan A had failed, they resorted to Plan B: get in front of the NDP’s Orange Tusamini headed up by Jack Layton, a talented snake charmer if there ever was one.
Layton used a wide smile and a cane for props. It was still only successful in severely mauling the federal Liberal Party and almost killing the BQ separatists in Quebec, making Jack the Leader of the Official Opposition but not giving him the clout that he enjoyed in previous minority parliaments.
If I had written a column two days before the election, as sober-minded as a TV evangelist, stating that the pro-abortion federal NDP party would emerge as the Official Opposition and almost destroy the separatist BQ, with Gilles Duceppe, its leader losing his seat, leaving just four lonely remaining members to carry their flag, the producers would have ordered a stretcher to take me to the psychiatric wing of the local hospital.
If I would have said that Michael Ignatieff, the leader of the “natural governing party,” would lose his safe seat, they would suggest my crystal ball wasn’t working.
If I predicted shining lights in the Liberal Party — Gerard Kennedy, Joe Volpe, Ken Dryden, Bob Oliphant, Mark Holland would be just a few MPs who were on the short end of the ballot, I would have been considered a crepe hanger.
If I had written that New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton fast closing in on the job of prime minister of Canada, would be caught naked in a police raid on what they believed was a suspicious massage parlour in Toronto a few years ago catering principally to a Chinese clientele, people would say I was trying to smear him.
When you run for the prime minister’s job, Canadian citizens have the right to know more about you, because of the enormous responsibilities that you will be given, than if you were just running for dog-catcher.
The voters should be concerned about your personal values because how you acted in the past is likely how you will act in the future. Maybe I’m naive but I believe that honesty and decency are still very important.
The news articles revealed the Toronto police decided not to lay any charges when they realized that Jack Layton was a prominent NDP politician.
The evidence the police were acting on was certainly worth exploring.
Olivia Chow, Jack’s wife and fellow NDP MP, said Jack was there for a shiatsu treatment. She railed about it and said it was a smear tactic used during the federal election campaign that could hurt Jack’s chances of getting elected and also hurt the NDP party’s chances of success.
Politicians often misuse the word smear in exchanges with other politicians. Smear does not leave any room for doubts when someone has been accused. This is not the case with Layton/Chow. The facts are out front and publicly acknowledged as to have happened.
Olivia said she knew that Jack had been there for a massage. Was Jack Layton getting the sweetheart treatment from the Toronto police — God forgive me for even thinking of it — to be exploited at a later date? I gather that Olivia Chow wanted the whole thing to go away. A prominent British publisher was famous for saying that if the news didn’t make someone angry it was advertising.
Would the police be so kindly disposed to walk away without charges if Layton hadn’t been a prominent politician? I didn’t think the police carried any courtroom around in their cruisers for meting out speedy justice. Let the police do their job, and let the courts do theirs.
