Interview with NDP Leader, Jack Layton

[Greg]

Mapleleafweb is planning to do an interview with Hon. Jack Layton, leader of the Federal New Democratic Party, and I would like to invite the forum members to propose some possible questions.

The questions can be emailed directly to me, or you can post them below in this thread. Your questions can be submitted until Wed, October 17th, after which I will select three interesting questions and include them in the batch asked to Mr Layton. The interview will appear in the Interviews section of Mapleleafweb

Any off-topic or disrespectful postings or questions in this thread will be deleted.

[old_bold&cold]

Mr Layton, your position of Afghanistan and the call for immediate withdrawl of all troops, leaving the afghanis people to fend for themselves. How do you justify this position and its letting down our promises made to NATO? Also, explain how this would not be letting the Taliban just come back and take Afghanistan by force and again driving it back in time? Also how do you say to the troops who lost their lives and some limbs, that they should not have been there in the first place?

I hope that is polite enough because yes, I would have been more inclined to slant it otherwise.

[shavluk]

Please ask him why he turned his back on the 6 drug war resolutions I provided to him from around the country for last Septembers national ndp convention just to give the ndp the same cannabis policy as the GREEN PARTY as he asked me to do in 2003 and why did he like all ndp leadership candidates say he would YES legalize cannabis and then sabotage the grassroots support of that issue within his party?

IS HE AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT """ NO PENALTY FOR ADULT USE OF CANNABIS"" ???

DOES HE THINK THIS ISSUE IS HELPING TO GROW THE GREENS?

IF HE PRETENDS TO BE SUPORTIVE AS HE USUALLY DOES,

I WOULD THEN ASK WHY THAN IS eNDProhibition.ca NOT ,,EVEN AFTER 4 YEARS ,,STILL NOT LINKED TO THE NDP.CA WEB SITE??

AND WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME HE USED CANNABIS OR BEEN AROUND WHEN SOME ONE DID?

THANK YOU

[CLRV]

Ok, I'll be good...

Mr. Layton. I used to live in your Toronto riding and still work there. I have voted NDP across the board for as long as I've been voting. I have been delighted recently with the leverage your party has wielded in a minority Parliament; forcing Harper to deal with issues which would otherwise have gone unregarded in order to avoid no-confidence situations. It cannot be easy working with conservatives and you deserve credit.

However, I have to say I found the photo of you at the recent Quebec by-election, hugging and raising hands with the conservative candidate in joy over depriving the detested Liberals of their stronghold ridings, to be a little disturbing to say the least.

Are you not afraid that at some point the dirt is going to rub off on you or, more to the point, that public perception will begin to regard you as being more interested in boosting the status of your party (which granted has flourished under your leadership) than about the real issues which have kept most thinking people voting for you?

[Michael Bluth]

Will the strategy of the NDP in the upcoming election be to present a credible centre-left alternative to the Liberals or will it be to point out issues/concerns/questions with the Conservatives?

[Higgly]

Nice coup Greg!

[noahbody]

When NASA corrected an error in its data set, the case for a global warming catastrophe was severely weakened. The claim that 10 of the hottest years came over an 11 year stretch starting in the 90's was ifalse. In fact, the 30's, not the 90's, turned out to be the hottest decade on record. The hottest year, now 1934, not 1998. And seven of the hottest 15 years occurred over seven decades.

With so much that we value in Canadian society - health care, social programs, employment - being tied to the fossil fuel sector of our economy, would you say it's wise to stay on the bandwagon ignoring all signs or should we stop and have a serious debate on what's real and what's in the best interest for Canada and the future of our economy and all it provides?

[GostHacked]

Wow that is pretty cool stuff Greg. I hope this turns out to be a great experience for us all. Hopefully this will bring other government members to MLW for such discussions.

----

Mr. Layton.

How can you make government more transparent and open to the public? Remember it is the People's government. How can you assure the Canadian populous that you and your party are doing exactly what your platform states?

Can we reduce the complexity and redundancy of our government? Can we make it more efficient?

Also, during Question Period, how can anyone get their point across when you have other members of parliment start a shouting match to drown out the person who is speaking. I have always found this disrespectful of the person who is speaking. How can we make government more respectful?

Also I have voted NDP in the past, and have only voted NDP. I have not voted in the last two elections for no one party or representative share my views on how things should be. I did not want to throw away my vote to another party to spite another party. I choose to just not get involved. I have admired you in the past Mr. Layton, but now I just cannot make a good case to vote for any party, party leader and platform.

How can you convince the undecided to vote for you? What proof can you show that would convince us to vote for you? And can you do it without completely lowering yourself to trash talking the other opponents?

I guess my big question is, how can you bring respect and productivity back to the government in Canada? And how can that translate to every department in our government?

[Higgly]

Mr. Layton.

In the Globe and Mail on Saturday December 16, 2006 (page F3), columnist Doug Saunders wrote a column entitled "Privacy Is Not a Right, but an Indulgence". The basic thesis of Mr. Saunder's column was that there is no right to privacy in law, and that there should not be one.

Where do you stand on the issue of privacy? Were your party to come to power, what would you do to reflect that stand and how much do you think that might cost us?

<<edited to remove>>

Please answer without referring to your opponents.

<<what was I thinking?>>

Edited October 11, 2007 by Higgly

[fellowtraveller]

Mr Layton

Your party has existed for 46 years as a national presence and has never been the Official Opposition, much less the government. The Party has been mired in fourth place for quite some time now, lagging even behind a Party committed to the dissolution of the country. Very few political observers outside your Party believe that there is any realistic expectation that will change significantly in the foreseeable future.

Canadians simply have consistently chosen not to vote for NDP polices or candidates for a couple of generations. Your traditional message has failed to convince many Canadians that you offer a palatable option.

Does the NDP under your watch have any specific plans to change that reality? Does the NDP have any specific plans to offer policies and candidates more in keeping with the mainstream sensibilities of the Canadian electorate?

[Michael Hardner]

Mr. Layton,

Would you consider joining Maple Leaf Web as a regular poster ?

[Michael Hardner]

I honestly think that someday web forums will have an important part in politics, much like donut shops do today.

[capricorn]

Mr. Layton,

Part 1. Do you and your spouse still live in subsidized housing?

Part 2. Speaking of social housing, the following is a quote from your party's website:

If we're uncomfortable with the presence of so many people we've abandoned to the streets, the solution is to build more affordable housing.

http://www.ndp.ca/page/1303

What I would like to know is what would your party do regarding the homeless who do not want to move into these new affordable units and opt to remain on the streets?

[mikedavid00]

Mr Layton,

Why do you support our current immigration system when people are arriving in Canada without work permits. Canada is amongst the only country in the world that allows this.

Jack, do you really find it sensible to let people flood into Canada when we can't feed our own children and we can't even fund out own healthcare system? Do you realize how people struggle to get by in life?

Where is the logic of having elderly people arrive to Canada, and in 90 days they can sign up for a triple bypass surgery and clog our system that Canadians have paid into their whole life and now we must die on our own medical waiting lists for someone who resides in another country or who cannot even speak English.

This is completely ruining our social and financial fabric year by year.

And I'm respectfully asking you to please not answer with aging populations or credentials not being recognized. Those two excuses are for the uninformed and mainstreme media. I'll remind you that on a forum and people here are extremely well read on these issues so please answer seriously what you plan to do with our illogical and broken immigration system.

Edited October 12, 2007 by mikedavid00

[geoffrey]

Mr. Layton,

Both the Conservative and Liberal parties have strong youth movements with many up and coming leaders. The NDP has recently seen some of it's vetern members, one's that carry a great deal of respect in both the House and among Canadians, retire from politics. Are you confident that your party has enough youth involvement to have the same national presence 10 or 20 years down the road?

--

Or alternatively...

--

How do you see the unionized labour movement and business working together to improve Canada's productivity compared to the rest of the OECD?

[Topaz]

Mr. Layton, do the representatives that win elections and go to Ottawa loyality lay in the PEOPLE who elected them or to the LEADER of the party first??? What do you know about the North American Union and what is your opinion of it?

[Moxie]

Mr. Layton your party use to stand for the hard working people of Canada, the working poor if you will. Now you seem more concerned with minority "Fringe" groups. Your party policies are absurb and frankly out of touch with the hard working Canadian People. Why the shift in Party Policies? Even unions don't want to be affilitated with your party, why has the NDP gone so far left that Canadians shun it?

[jennie]

Mr. Layton:

In the matter of Indigenous land rights, neither the Liberals or Conservatives, provincially or federally, have followed the Supreme Court's rulings on the Crown's Duty to Consult. The result of this failure to consult is five aboriginal blockades of land use projects across Ontario, and numerous others across the country.

The Ontario provincial NDP, however, has made commitments to honour the 'duty to consult' with Indigenous communities about land uses on their traditional and treaty lands, and to pursue revenue sharing agreements.

Will the federal NDP also commit to supporting meaningful consultation with Indigenous Peoples regarding all uses of their traditional and treaty lands, and respecting their interests in those lands?

[August1991]

Two questions, and a comment.

Comment first. Greg, fix the typo in this thread's heading. As they say, "I don't care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right."

1. Mr. Layton, you changed the long-standing, official NDP policy to withdraw Canada from NATO. Instead, you now want Canada to remain a member of NATO but you want to "transform" it. What do you mean exactly and is this related to your desire to withdraw Canadian troops from Afghanistan?

2. Bob Rae characterized the Ontario NDP as a party of protest, but not a party of power. How do you view the federal NDP - is it a party of power or protest?

----

Another comment (why not?).

Nice coup Greg. As the basis of an interview, the questions above in this thread are interesting and good (eg. Moxie and Bluth). Use them (after edits to keep them short & snappy) and then, depending on answers, use the sense God gave you for tight follow-ups.

Edited October 12, 2007 by August1991

[Visionseeker]

Mapleleafweb is planning to do an interview with Hon. Jack Layton, leader of the Federal New Democratic Party, and I would like to invite the forum members to propose some possible questions.

The questions can be emailed directly to me, or you can post them below in this thread. Your questions can be submitted until Wed, October 17th, after which I will select three interesting questions and include them in the batch asked to Mr Layton. The interview will appear in the Interviews section of Mapleleafweb

Any off-topic or disrespectful postings or questions in this thread will be deleted.

First question is to you Greg: why the "Hon" honorarium? As far as I know, he hasn’t been made a member of the privy council. Otherwise, while he is entitled to be called honourable in the House, outside of it he’s just plain Jack Layton.

But the question I'd like you to present to my fellow Hudsonite is the following:

Should the Conservatives win either a minority or majority in the next election, would you consider merging your party with the Liberals to counter the right of centre vote in Canada?

Edited October 12, 2007 by Visionseeker

[jdobbin]

First question is to you Greg: why the "Hon" honorarium? As far as I know, he hasn’t been made a member of the privy council. Otherwise, while he is entitled to be called honourable in the House, outside of it he’s just plain Jack Layton.

Layton is a member of the Privy Council and is addressed as Honourable.

My question for Mr. Layton:

Should the leader of the Greens party leader be allowed to join the leader's debate in the next election?

Edited October 12, 2007 by jdobbin

[Visionseeker]

Layton is a member of the Privy Council and is addressed as Honourable.

Well I'll be damned. Inducted March 21, 2005

Next question is: why?

[geoffrey]

Next question is: why?

I'm pretty sure all opposition leaders are?

[ScottSA]

Mr. Layton:

Given that democracy presupposes a demos; that is, a group of people sharing a fundamental similarity of purpose (eg "freedom," "order," etc), do you believe that an official policy of multiculturalism, defined as an encouragement to pursue one's own culture (beyond facile representations of "street festivals" and so on) is at odds with democracy? I direct your attention to persistent and declared efforts by such Islamic organizations as Cair-Can and others to institute Sharia in Canada, and to the recent creation of what seems to be a Chinese race-based political party in Vancouver. While these efforts may seem insignificant at this stage in our history, do you believe they contribute to democracy or work against it?

[mikedavid00]

Two questions, and a comment.

Comment first. Greg, fix the typo in this thread's heading. As they say, "I don't care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right."

1. Mr. Layton, you changed the long-standing, official NDP policy to withdraw Canada from NATO. Instead, you now want Canada to remain a member of NATO but you want to "transform" it. What do you mean exactly and is this related to your desire to withdraw Canadian troops from Afghanistan?

2. Bob Rae characterized the Ontario NDP as a party of protest, but not a party of power. How do you view the federal NDP - is it a party of power or protest?

----

Another comment (why not?).

Nice coup Greg. As the basis of an interview, the questions above in this thread are interesting and good (eg. Moxie and Bluth). Use them (after edits to keep them short & snappy) and then, depending on answers, use the sense God gave you for tight follow-ups.

He's been asked those same questions so many times on the radio and has canned responses for each.