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10 Questions with Jack Layton

NDP leader talks federal issues on provincial election day
Wed Oct 10, 2007

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By Tim Kelly
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DURHAM -- Federal NDP leader Jack Layton has steadily built his party up over the last few elections and now is able to exert influence in a minority Parliament with a 30-seat strong caucus. He was in Oshawa on provincial election day to offer his support to Oshawa riding candidate Sid Ryan, who has run twice federally in Oshawa and lost. He answers our 10 questions on federal topics.

1. Will there be a federal election soon?

Well that’s really going to be up to Stephane Dion; if he’s going to support Stephen Harper carrying on. We’ll listen to the speech from the throne and determine if we can support it but Mr. Harper is going in the wrong direction with so many different issues.

2. What do you expect from the Throne Speech?

I expect he’s going to aggressively pursue the policies he’s laid out and I think they’re wrong for Canada and wrong for the working families here who are really struggling to get by. Here in Oshawa we can see the result of these trade deals. People are losing their jobs. Whether it was the Liberals before them or the Conservatives now, the community and the industrial heartland is being sold out.

3. What would be your priorities?

We think we need industrial strategies in the key sectors and nobody knows that better than the people of Oshawa and the importance of having an auto strategy that makes sense and fair trade deals where our products can be sold to the countries that want to sell their products here.

4. What would you find acceptable in the throne speech?

We’d like to see a change in direction on the war. We think our troops should be coming home and that a whole new strategy for Canada’s help and involvement to the Afghan people needs to be there. Plus, very strong environmental policies; let’s have a Green car strategy. Let’s make the cars that Canadians would like to buy to pollute less. Let’s make them here? Why aren’t we doing that?

5. Is it difficult to get attention for your ideas as the third party in English Canada?

I don’t think so. I think we’ve been quite effective in getting our voice for working families out there. I travel the country and everybody knows the NDP and generally speaking, feel pretty good about the role we play in Canadian politics and speaking up for them. I have a feeling that whenever that next election comes a lot more people are going to be coming our way.

6. What is the impact of the NDP by-election win in the Quebec riding of Outremont?

Well this really put wind in our sails and of course it’s a really big breakthrough for the NDP now to have a voice in Quebec. Someone who can speak for a quarter of the Canadian population and we’ve really been shut out of Quebec for a very long time. But the Bloc Quebecois is weakening and Stephane Dion is not highly regarded and respected in Quebec. People are looking for an alternative that stands for a Canada that can work and the NDP is there and will be growing as the future unfolds.

7. What would you do to help rectify the crisis in manufacturing?

We think a comprehensive strategy for manufacturing and the auto sector is needed and that means you have to help companies to modernize so we can stay ahead on the productivity front. You’ve got to have training programs so we can have the workforce to replace those who are reaching retirement age and you’ve got to have innovation so that we’re on the leading age when it comes to things like environment. You know there’s all kinds of companies around the world that want to expand. We want them to expand here.

8. What specifically would the NDP do to help GM workers?

We would put in place an auto strategy for the industrial sector that would move us toward building the kinds of cars that produce fewer emissions, the kind of cars that people are after these days. Let’s help put that transformation in the industry and secondly, let’s insist that there be fair trade contracts with the rest of the world, not sell-out contracts.

9. Do you have suggestions to help fix the Oshawa Harbour mess?

First of all, you’ve got to start to listen to the people and the local communities. We feel that these harbour commissions and port authorities have been all too often not really very democratic. They run counter to the local voices; we have the same problem with the Toronto Port Authority. Let’s work together in our cities to try to get some control over our waterfronts.

10. Do you favour proportional representation?

Very strongly. This will mean that everybody’s vote counts and you get the best of both worlds. You can choose your local representative and you can also choose the party leader and policies that you like the best. Sometimes those match and sometimes they don’t. And you should have the choice.

Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton lends his support to provincial NDP candidate Sid Ryan. He also sat down with Metroland Durham Region Media Group and answered our 10 Questions.
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