Layton takes message to Quebec
TOUGH SELL NDP leader wants to appeal to federalist voters in province Avoids discussing unity, focuses on environmental issues
MONTREAL— Against all odds, Jack Layton will today appeal to federalist Quebecers, casting the NDP as guardians of a united Canada.
And, as in the past, it’s not likely to garner many NDP votes in Quebec.
“ People will find him interesting, entertaining, amusing, but they won’t vote for him,” said Alain Gagnon, a political scientist at the Université du Québec à Montréal. “ He’s not been able to connect here.” The NDP has elected only one Quebec MP ever ( consumer advocate Phil Edmonston in 1990), and currently, the party stands fourth in the polls here. Yesterday, Layton tried to avoid discussing national unity. He attempted to focus on his announcement that the NDP wants to slash greenhouse gases by 25 per cent by 2020.
Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club, welcomed his commitment and called on the other federal leaders to make the same one. He also proposed new laws to protect clean drinking water, to require that companies prove chemical products are safe before they go to market and to require companies to pay for environmental damage they inflict.
“ One of the greatest challenges facing humanity itself is whether or not the ecological systems of the planet . . . are going to be able to provide the sustainability for life,” he said. “ I hope you’ll excuse me if I focus on that today and deal with the constitutional matters tomorrow.”
Instead, reporters wanted to know if Layton still stands — as he did in the last election — opposed to the Clarity Act. Diehard federalists applaud the 2000 act, which lays out the terms by which Ottawa would negotiate the secession of Quebec after a vote to separate following a referendum. Layton didn’t answer.
Still, he offered a comment on the connection between Quebecers’ disgust with the Liberals’ sponsorship scandal and the burgeoning growth of those who support the Bloc here.
“I don’t believe that all of those, certainly, who are right now indicating support for the Bloc have necessarily given up on Canada. I really don’t,” he said. “ I think there’s quite a few people who have turned to the Bloc because of the attitude of the Liberals towards Quebec.” Then, he offered up the NDP as an alternative for federalists.
Today, he plans to make the point while standing in the same office complex that housed the Montreal hearings of the Gomery commission into the sponsorship scandal.
Layton, who was born near Montreal, has stressed that his roots in Quebec go back four generations. But Quebec Liberals dismissed him as a naive outsider.
“ Let’s face it, we did not damage federalism in Quebec, we made it happen,” said Liberal Heritage Minister Liza Frulla, who’s running in the Montreal riding of Jeanne- Le Ber. “ Mr. Layton is a new kid on the block, may I say. He doesn’t understand Quebec whatsoever.”