Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PCwas a Canadian politician and Leader of the Official Opposition. He was leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, occasionally holding the title of acting mayor or deputy mayor of Toronto during his tenure as city councillor. He was the Member of Parliament for Toronto—Danforth from 2004 until his death...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth18 July 1950
CityMontreal, Canada
CountryCanada
We want to try to have a productive parliament to focus on issues Canadians care about, ... If there is no significant action in the days ahead, we will have to make our choice.
We're encouraged that Mr. Harper appears to have taken some of our concerns into account. If Mr. Harper is serious about making this Parliament work, we will be open to working with him.
Every member of Parliament has been sent there by Canadians, and that decision should be respected, and that member of Parliament should be respected.
Canadians can get Parliament working again. Here's how to do that: elect more New Democrats.
That doesn't seem right to me. Canadians paid for this.
That would be a confidence vote by definition, ... I can tell you where we're going to stand on that one: firmly opposed, as will the vast majority of Canadians.
We have this historic problem that we have a quarter of our population, the people of Quebec, who have never signed on to the Constitution. That can't go on forever.
I'd put it this way: Canadians want politicians to work together on their behalf. So that's what I'm committed to doing. I think it's been the goal of every NDP leader. Because we had a profound belief that we could do a good job on behalf of Canadians... if we were given that opportunity.
I played a lot of squash for a lot of years.
A prime minister's job is to make sure the government works for those who have elected him, and not for big corporations.
People that go through serious illness - you can either go one way or the other. You can either become despondent about it all. Or it kind of rejuvenates you, makes you focus on what's important.
The question is if Mr. Martin will realize that he needs the support of other parties to get things done or not. We will be putting some proposals in front of the House and convince other parties to support them. However, at the present time there is no discussion of some sort of an agreement,
Unfortunately it has become clear that Paul Martin and his team are not cut from the same cloth as Lester Pearson or Pierre Trudeau. And so, most Canadians think it's time for a change.
We are a democratic party. I respect and support the decision that has been made.