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John Gilbert "Jack" Layton PC MP (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of Toronto. He was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Toronto—Danforth from 2004 until his death. The son of a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, Layton was raised in Hudson, Quebec. He rose to prominence in Toronto municipal politics where he was one of the most prominent left-wing voices on city and Metropolitan Toronto councils, and was also a Board member for the Toronto Port Authority. In 1991, he ran for mayor, but ...
... he'll enter politics
TORONTO - The son of federal NDP Leader Jack Layton may be about to follow his father and grandfather into politics.
Michael Layton says he will announce a week from today whether he will run for Toronto City Council in Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina.
He says he's put out an invitation to friends, colleagues and other community activists to come together in celebration and that he has something exciting to tell them.
The 31-year-old deputy outreach director of Environmental Defence Canada says inferring that he's going to run from that "might be premature, it might be ...
cici - in poll Jack Layton The short answer to the question posed in this blog post title is: Yes.
And it's not just an academic question. When Parliament resumes on March 3, there are going to be several confidence votes right out of the gate. First, the Speech from the Throne will be delivered on March 3 and the budget will be delivered on March 4. Votes on the budget are automaticlly votes of confidence. I'm sure I need remind no readers of this blog that a government that loses a vote of confidence in the House of Commons must, in almost all circumstances, ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a ...
In the balanced and fair fashion appropriate to a fearlessly partisan political blog, today seems like a good day to take note of the most recent Angus-Reid report. New Democrat Jack Layton has the highest satisfaction rating of the major party leaders. Twenty nine per cent of respondents reported they approved of his performance, while 34 per cent disapproved.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was next: 26 per cent approve of his performance, while 51 per cent disapprove. Judging from that sky-high disapproval rating, the Prime Minister has paid a heavy price for his habit of padlocking Canada's ...
Immigration policy should build a stronger Canada, not exploit the vulnerable
NDP Immigration critic Jinny Sims (Newton – North Delta) is urging the Conservative government to invest in Canadian workers and reunite families instead of undermining the Canadian job market by exploiting Temporary Foreign Workers.
“There is no good reason for the Conservatives to be bringing in tens of thousands of temporary foreign workers when so many Canadians and newcomers are out of work,” said Sims. “Temporary workers from other countries drive wages down and are rarely permitted to remain in Canada. Instead of investing here, they understandably send most of their earnings back to their home countries.”
Under the Conservatives Temporary Foreign Workers number have doubled while family reunification provisions have been systematically dismantled. Spouses, parents and grandparents are being forced to wait years to be reunited.
“Instead of treating the immigration system as a source of cheap labour, the Conservatives must implement an immigration plan tha |
NDP calls on Conservatives to support pan-Canadian housing strategy
To adequately Canada’s many housing needs, the Conservative government must immediately implement the NDP’s pan-Canadian housing strategy proposed.
NDP MP for Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, Marie-Claude Morin pointed to a Food Banks Canada report released this week that revealed food bank usage at an all time high across the country. According to the organization, increasing the availability of affordable housing is the key to solving the problem.
"The Conservatives budget made no commitment whatsoever in this direction,” said Morin while presenting her proposal for a National Housing Strategy. “The NDP is proposing the solution so why aren’t the Conservatives supporting it?”
Canada is the only G8 country to have no long-term plan for housing, even though 1.5 million families live in inadequate housing. Morin’s proposed legislation would have the federal government work with all levels of government to ensure safe, accessible, and affordable housing for a |
National Research Council latest victim of Conservative science cuts
As part of their ongoing attack on science and research, the Conservatives are throwing close to a hundred of Canada’s best researchers out of work.
“The Conservatives are permanently undermining scientific research in this country,” said NDP Science and Technology critic Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby-Douglas). “They’re turning Canada’s world-renowned National Research Council (NRC) into a 1-800 concierge service for industry. They’re haphazardly dismantling years of research by some of our country’s brightest minds.”
While testifying before the Commons industry committee last Tuesday, NRC President John McDougall confirmed that changes would move the NRC away from academic “scientist-driven” work and toward industry impact and commercial sales.
“Many neuroscientific medical devices such as Canadian-made MRIs are the result of years of NRC research,” said NDP deputy critic for Science & Technology Laurin Liu (Rivière-des-Mille-Îles). “This rou |
Prevention is lacking in ad hoc committee on bullying
NDP MP Dany Morin (Chicoutimi – Le Fjord) welcomes the creation of an anti-cyberbullying working group and is calling on the Conservatives to take concrete action to support his motion for a national bullying prevention strategy.
“It’s encouraging that the provinces are working together to improve the Criminal Code, but without a focus on preventing bullying in the first place, this committee just doesn’t go far enough”, said Morin. “This is a serious issue that is at the breaking point. Our young people are in despair and committing suicide. We need more concrete action.”
In June, Morin tabled a motion for a national bullying prevention strategy. The motion calls for the creation of a special parliamentary committee to: 1) study the different forms of bullying, 2) develop a plan to identify and adopt best practices in anti-bullying, 3) support local organizations already working to prevent bullying and put focus on prevention rather than criminalization.
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