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Jack Layton’s uphill battle
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| Parent(s) |
Race
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| Contributor | Monsieur |
| Last Edited | Monsieur Apr 09, 2011 07:34pm |
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| Category | General |
| Author | Aaron Wherry |
| News Date | Saturday, April 9, 2011 01:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The plane emblazoned with his name is taxiing down a runway in Halifax and Jack Layton is talking about sheep. Specifically, he is talking about Dall sheep: a species adept at mountain climbing and often seen perched on high, steep cliffs. He saw some during a trip to Nahani National Park some years ago. And the NDP, he figures, is like the Dall sheep, forever running uphill. “If you put us on a flat surface, we’d fall over,” he laughs. “We’d be in a completely foreign environment.”
Once again, Layton is leading the NDP into a general election—his fourth since winning the party leadership in 2003. And once again, he is faced with doubt and disbelief on the campaign trail. First there were questions about his physical ability in the wake of prostate cancer and hip surgery. Now, with his party still hovering around 17 per cent in the polls and his campaign perceived to be lacking verve, he is pressed about his political viability. Every day, after he had promised some “practical” solution and vowed to work together to “fix” Ottawa, he invited questions from the reporters travelling with his campaign. And every day they found some new way to suggest he was failing or flailing, perhaps outright doomed. “I don’t know what they’re feeding them back there,” he jokes of those seated in the plane’s rear. “I’ve got to have a talk with the chef." |
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