By arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
Tuesday, august 22, 2006
In a column last week, Toronto Sun columnist Peter Worthington wrote about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's non attendance in Toronto at the 16th annual Conference on aIDS. Worthington wrote how federal NDP leader Jack Layton was "shocked" that the prime minister did not attend and added that it doesn't take much to shock Jack.
Hmm. He certainly has a point about Layton seemingly being shocked at a number of things. Here are just some of the events that have completely shocked the NDP leader in recent years.
June 2006
after the arrests of 17 boys and men from the Toronto area on terrorism related charges, Layton was quoted as saying that he was "shocked and dismayed".
May 2006
The Bloc Quebecois had announced that they were supporting the Conservative government's budget. Said Layton, "I am frankly shocked that Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois is supporting the budget".
May 2006
Commenting on the fact that the Conservatives appeared to be moving away from the Kyoto accord, Jack said, "I was more than surprised; I was shocked".
March 2006
Stephen Harper refused to be interviewed by then-ethics czar Bernard Shapiro. Jack Layton was quoted by the Toronto Star as saying that he was "quite shocked to hear he wouldn't be interviewed".
January 2006
Prior to the federal election that was being held at the end of the month, Layton was quoted as saying that he was braced for any result and will not be shocked like he was at the result of the 2004 election.
January 2006
The Conservatives had announced that they would roll back the income tax cuts that were introduced by the Liberals and that took effect on January 1. Jack was quoted by CP as saying that "he was shocked to learn of Harper's plan".
December 2005
During the election campaign, former Liberal worker Mike Klander called Layton names and compared his wife and fellow candidate, Olivia Chow, to a dog. Jack Layton quite properly didn't personally comment on Klander's offending comments that were written on his blog but his spokesperson, Ian Capstick issued a statement saying, "We were shocked, disappointed and offended".
June 2005
It surfaced that the Liberals allegedly offered Conservative MPs, Gurmant and Nina Grewal, incentives to cross the floor to sit as Liberals. Layton was quoted by the Toronto Sun as saying that he was "shocked and appalled".
January 2004
During then-Prime Minister Paul Martin's time when he was in favour of joining the americans' missile defense system, the Minister of Defense, David Pratt, had sent a letter to U.S. defense officials saying that Canada wanted to be involved. Regarding the letter, Jack Layton said, "I'm shocked at the tone of it".
October 2003
Layton was commenting on how much revenue Newfoundland and Labrador actually get from their oil and gas reserves. He said, "I was shocked to read the royal commission report; how much of the revenue of the offshore resources is going to the government of Canada instead of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador".
May 2003
Commenting on the proposed First Nations Governance act, Jack said, "I have been shocked to learn about the divide and conquer strategies that have been undertaken, attempted, not successfully, by minister Nault".
February 2003
During Question Period, Joe Clark asked Prime Minister Jean Chrétien if he knew where Osama bin Laden was. Chrétien offered to call bin Laden on Clark's behalf. Jack was quoted by CP as being "shocked" at Chrétien's attempt at making a bin Laden joke.
Peter Worthington is certainly correct; it really doesn't take too much to shock our boy Jack. These are only some examples that go back to when Layton first assumed the leadership of the federal party. Needless to say there are more examples from Jack's long career on Toronto City Council. But, hey, there are limits, even in cyberspace.
Does Jack Layton really comprehend how many things there are out there that shock him? Probably not — if he did, he would undoubtedly be shocked.
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