Ignatieff Supports Harper's Crime Bill (C15)

[ironstone]

Well Iggy is driving me to the left. I hate Harper but wont vote for Iggy either.The NDP need a new leader who is ready to take the left and run as far as they can with it.

You already have that leader.You know,the guy that is a dead ringer for Lenin,Jack Layton.

[benny]

In a way I see your point, but then again its also arguable that even though a party defends the right to use marijuana, none of the party membership should be smoking it, or posting videos of themselves toking at a party or whatever. They have a certain public image to maintain. Another analogy is that while its not illegal to get drunk, party members should not be drunk while in public giving speeches, or post videos of themselves getting shitfaced.

It would not be "helpful" for a party member to stand at the podium blown out of their minds on pot,baggy eyes all red and saying, "yeah man, legalize... wait I forgot... oh yeah, free munchies..."

You hit the very same bull's eye!

[normanchateau]

At the risk of definding Layton, it IS possible for a party to be pro-marijuana, yet not allow candidates or high-ranking party officials to partake.

After all, even if the laws regarding pot possession and usage are bad, were a candidate to actually disregard those laws then they may end up giving the appearance of people who believe they can pick and choose whatever laws suit them and disregard the rest.

One of the two candidates that Layton pushed out was Kirk Tousaw, a lawyer and NDP candidate in Vancouver Quadra. The offending video showed Tousaw smoking a joint in 2005. Jack Layton himself acknowledges that he smoked marijuana "in the past" and describes it as a wonderful substance:

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4329.html

A tad hypocritical of Layton but no more so than what we usually see from Harper and Ignatieff. In any event, it doesn't really matter who the NDP runs in Quadra. It's the safest Liberal riding in BC and the NDP usually runs a distant third or fourth in Quadra.

[benny]

One of the two candidates that Layton pushed out was Kirk Tousaw, a lawyer and NDP candidate in Vancouver Quadra. The offending video showed Tousaw smoking a joint in 2005. Jack Layton himself acknowledges that he smoked marijuana "in the past" and describes it as a wonderful substance:

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4329.html

A tad hypocritical of Layton but no more so than what we usually see from Harper and Ignatieff. In any event, it doesn't really matter who the NDP runs in Quadra. It's the safest Liberal riding in BC and the NDP usually runs a distant third or fourth in Quadra.

As a leader of a democratic party, Layton can express both his personal opinion and the one of his party. Call this flexibility, not hypocrisy.