10-03-2008
Today's buzz: 'I'm running for prime minister,' declares Layton
Larissa Liepins
Canwest News Service
NDP leader Jack Layton said Friday that voters are tired of being told they have only two choices at the ballot box: Liberal and Conservative. (The Gazette) The buzz:
Call it ambitious - if not presumptuous - but Jack Layton aimed higher on Friday than we're used to seeing from the leader of a national party that's never even formed the official Opposition.
The NDP leader said voters are tired of being told they have only two choices at the ballot box: Liberal and Conservative.
"What I hoped became clear from the (televised leaders') debate is that I'm running for prime minister, and there's two others that are presenting themselves, one of whom who supported the other for the last year," Layton said at a campaign stop in Montreal.
The background:
"Ever since the NDP was created, there has been debate within that party about whether to aspire to power, or whether it is primarily a vehicle for protest and opposition," says Akaash Maharaj, a University of Toronto academic and former national policy chair of the Liberal Party of Canada.
"And indeed, one of the greatest criticisms its critics and other parties have levelled against it has always been that a vote for the NDP is a wasted vote because, no matter what the virtues or vices of the policies they embrace, they will never be in a position to implement them, not least because they don't aspire to form government."
The explanation:
"(Layton) does recognize that, though there is no possibility of his becoming prime minister after this election, there is a modest, though real possibility, that he could become leader of the Opposition," Maharaj said.
"But if he aspires to take that position, Canadians recognize that leaders of the Opposition, if they are to be effective, must be prime ministers-in-waiting. So by striking that posture, he makes it more likely that he might be considered a viable option for Canadians who wish to see a change in government."
Posted by: aterry