Come on, Jack, give voters the naked truth on that 1996 “massage”

So Jack Layton was found naked in a Toronto bawdyhouse, a.k.a. massage parlour, in 1996. Apparently Jack needed to relieve his stress and I suppose there is nothing like a good massage to do that. Unfortunately for Jack, he chose poorly when selecting the known bawdyhouse in Toronto’s seedy Chinatown. Jack, meanwhile, said from the campaign trail in British Columbia that nothing wrong happened. Okay. He also said it was all a smear campaign. Right.

At least he had the presence of mind not to deny the story that was broken by the Toronto Sun newspaper then picked up by the Sun News Network, much to the dismay of the CBC, CTV and Global, all who have been ramping up their praises of Smiling Jack’s upward climb in the polls. Checking out the various networks, I found nothing on the CBC, CTV or Global. The lefty Toronto Star does have a piece on its website but it is more of a disclaimer than a news story. A report on the Sun News Network did say the Toronto Star was busily trying to discredit the Sun exposé. I am, however, left to wonder whether the story would ever have seen the light of day in Canada without the Sun newspaper chain or the new Sun News Network. I doubt it. Mind you, I am not going to judge Jack Layton’s character or morals over this incident. Not one of us on this planet can judge someone else’s character without exposing their own failings. What I do judge is Jack’s hypocrisy in this matter. Can you image the howls of outrage that would emanate from him had Prime Minister Harper or Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff been caught in the same circumstances? He would be demanding they withdraw from the election citing their moral deficiencies. And can you imagine the righteous indignation that would spew from the mainstream media? Why the newsroom cuties all over the country would simply swoon away. Of course, that will not be the fate visited upon surge king, Smiling Jack Layton. Layton’s apologists are already crawling out of the woodwork to downplay the incident saying it happened 15 years ago. Time does not excuse bad behaviour. And the fact that Jack has yet to apologize to his followers points to another character flaw. Don’t blame your opponents Jack. Blame yourself for doing something stupid and then trying to hide it all these years. Self-righteous Jack Layton has been lambasting his opponents for years over their particular missteps or character flaws. Well, Jack, how does it feel to be on the receiving end? One thing is, however, I do not like the timing involved in breaking this story. It should have come out much earlier in the game. Naturally Jack’s supporters are all over the social media bashing the messenger. Regardless of that, Jack Layton has a lot of explaining to do. Unfortunately he’ll do it under a tarnished halo.

Bill McIntyre——Bio and Archives

Bill now devotes his time to his media/communications consulting firm while fighting for time to pursue freelance writing assignments, promote television projects and create the odd movie script.