Friday, November 30, 2007

Layton Finds His Conscience?

The Canadian Press story mostly discusses Dion and the Liberals' evolution on C-6 (veiled voting legislation). But it ends with this little nugget:

New Democrat Paul Dewar says the party will not support the bill as written.

A version of the same story from several hours ago, however, gives a slightly different account of the NDP position:

The government bill is likely to pass, however, with NDP support.

Looks like the NDP position has evolved over the afternoon. Half a clap to Jack Layton for doing what was, given the deficiencies of the bill, obviously the right thing. C-6 should fall now. I imagine somebody looked at internal polls or applied some logic to the legislation and realized that there is no point making someone unveil if you are not going to demand photo ID. Its nice to see it that, in Canada, Muslim bashing isn't always a political plus.

4 comments:

Dirk Buchholz said...

What a ridiculous title,
"Layton finds his Conscious"
Shouldn't it read
"Liberals grab a brain and finally get it"
After all,the Liberals unlike the NDP reacted no different than Cons and BLOC members when this ridiculous and absurd non-issue first reared its absurd head.
The article you link states...
..."Dion admits that his Liberals overreacted in the heat of crucial Quebec byelection campaigns two months ago, when they joined the three other federal parties in demanding that Elections Canada require all voters to uncover their faces"...

And further more It's a bit of stretch to turn a article which is 99% about Liberals into one about the NDP never mind Layton conscience? And exactly when did Layton ever say anything.I believe the misunderstanding arose because of the statement(unconfirmed) of one NDP MP,not Layton

Anonymous said...

Dirk, what are you referring to? Your post makes no sense.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said he continues to hold out hope that Mayrand will change his position before the byelections, but is prepared to support a legislative move.

"If not, it appears it will be necessary to change the law to make it clear," Layton said.

But Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said that he would respect Elections Canada's position, even though he disagreed with it.

[from CBC News, Sept 10, 2007]

Exactly how did the NDP react differently than the Cons and Bloc when this non-issue first arose? The NDP wanted legislation to overrule Mayrand and then Godin said they would support it (no one has denied that he said that) and now they say they want amendments. Well unless the admendment is to scratch the entire text of the bill (which only speaks on one issue, namely, requiring an "uncovered face") I think they still haven't found their conscience. Note that the NDP has never said they will vote against this bill or that they do not support it. They say they have some concerns and want some amendments. There is only one appropriate response -- throw this bill in the garbage. Doesn't Layton get that??

Anonymous said...

That "half clap should be upside his head!

Ti-Guy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.