CANADIEN

But the entertainment value, the entertainment value...

Most importantly, most people would have seen this as unimportant, which it is.

The problem with the upcoming NDP Quebec caucus is not that some of them may be pro-sovereignty, or that some may have little command of French while representing a majority French-speaking riding. Or that that many of them or young, or that some didn't bother campaigning. It's that the NDP took the first militants willing to be sacrificial lambs... Because anybody wohowould have said on the day the campaign started that they would poll at 40% of the Quebec vote the weekend before the vote would have been looked at funny by most everyone, including NDP strategists. Next time, they'll put more efforts in how they choose their Quebec candidates because they'll know they can win quite a few ridings.

And you know of anybody who has done that. AS you know, there is the case of a politician who went for a legal massage and found the embarassing way that he had ended up in a place being raided on suspicions that it might have also served as a bawdy house. And surely, as a superior white man, you know that's different from being actually caught and arrested while engaging in an illegal sex activity. Right?

I still think it looks like he should have been more careful in his choice of a place to get a massage. But even then - that was 16 years ago and there is nothing to indicate that he didn't learn from this experience.

There has been allegations, on this website and not supported by anything reported in the press, that Layton was caught having sex with an underage girl.

Indeed

You didn't see it before? How about the Globe and Mail endorsing the Conservatives earlier this week. As for this place being a shithole, if that's what you really think, then by all means let's all of us, regardless of political opinion, do you a favour and help you move. Just promise that you will keep entertaining us.

You obviously don't get it, do you. One man was not careful enough in seeking where to get a therapeutic massage. SIXTEEN YEAR AGO. And there is nothing to indicate that he did not learn his lesson. The other one is the object of a criminal investigation into alleged criminal acts. That you insist on equating the two only demonstrates that you do not know what you are talking about.

I personnally doubt that the hand of either the Liberal or the Conservative Party is behind the release of this information.

Good question. I,ve checked the Websites of both SunTV and the Toronto Sun (that's where the story orginated from), and they do not say a thing about the police notes stating the woman was naked. If it was in there, I'd like to see a quote. Knowing what they were, he should have chosen the place where he got that massage more carefully. But that's it. And unless the police met regarly with city council to inform them of where they've found bawdy house, I doubt very much that Layton knew as a fact which massage parlours were bawdy houses.

Indeed. Layton was caught (not accused of any illegal act, not arrested) in a massage parlour which the police suspected of being a bawdy house. The facts at hand indicate that he was, at most, careless in is choice of a place where to get a massage. There are actually judicial inquiries into allegations that Berlusconi has retained the services a prostitutes.

Yep, typical of any man seeking illicit sex.

Bad bad Toronto Sun for not saying anything about the naked woman. Since they work hand in hand with SunTV (normal, they're the same media outlet), I am sure they would have mentioned the fact she was naked. And bad bad SunTV for not mentioning on their Website the woman was naked. IOW, if Sun doesn't say that the police report indicated that the woman was naked, could it be that the report did not indicate the woman was naked?

You miss the whole point here. The real problem he has with Layton is that he... gasp... married a non-white.

We shall forget about the FACT that the police didn't see fit to arrest Layton for what you claim he did, right MikeDavid? BTW, don't worry about the risk of being sued for libel. Layton has better things to do than to waste his time with losers.

Let me check here. Guy goes for a message. At a licensed establishment. Which the police suspects may also be used for illegal activities. They raid it. they question the guy, they let him go. End of story. At worst, Jack Layton did not check carefully enough into the establishment he went to for his massage. Once again, end of story.

Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn At least now we know what kind of garbage we can expect from SunTV.

How things change in nine days... CONS: 144 NDP: 64 Lib: 56 BQ: 39 Ind: 1

Interesting, isn't it, that a rule I said at least three or for time over the past few days (in the thread on the SCC) is actually MY rule just because I do not share the incredibly stupid point of view that the level of knowledge of a second language of a lawyer is inversely proportional to his/her competency as a lawyer. Since I have stated, clearly, that I do not believe it should be a requirement that the SCC judges be bilingual, the ridiculous proposition is I believe that the country or the court would have been better without the current Chief Justice. BTW, since the Chief Justice decided to learn French once on the Court, could it because because she thinks bilingualism is a good knowledge for SCC judges to have?¨ She must think it is something useful to have once a Supreme. This is a LIE.

Well... that's a point. There are, after all, people who have been here all the time since Trudeau and who are not in touch with today's canada

It was either the Cree or the Inuit who had their own referendum just before the referendum of 1995, about whther or not they waould want to join an independant Quebec. The huge majority was NO. They do care.

So, we have the non-sensical (and quite frankly insulting to the intelligence) idea that people outside of Quebec who bother learning French are second-rate workers in their respective field who are trying to get an employment advantage that they are otherwise non qualified enough to get. Well, let's take a look at the SCC. Currently, eight of its judges are bilingual. They must all be second rate. Most importantly, having bilingual judges on the Court is nothing new. One would expect French-language night classes to be full of second-rate lawyers, the ones just not competent enough to be senior partners, or judges, or if they are judges stuck in the lower courts, the ones nobldy would consider for a university tenure or a job as editor of a prestigious law journal. Not happening. Well.... there must be plenty of second rate lawyers who have figured out there is no point in learning French just in order to sit on the SCC because well... they're second rate.

I'll come back to the example of Justice Ian Binnie. when the Canadian Government needed a lawyer to defend its case in a dispute with France, they must have thought that is French was good enough to do the job; after all, they could have easily chosen a Francophone lawyer. That's test enough as far as I am concerned.

I can imagine the scenario. May 2, 11 pm, CBC and Radio-Canada announce that the Bloc has just managed to get two more seats that the second-place Conservatives. May 2, 11:05, a journalist asks Gilles Duceppe "So, you are Canada's next Prime Minister?". May 2, 11:07, Duceppe stops laughing just long enough to answer "Are you freaking nuts? No way! I want to get Quebec OUT of Canada". Even of there was a mathematical chance of the Bloc getting more seats than other parties, the idea that they would consider trying to form the Government of Canada is quite frankly laughable.