Layton goes local

When it comes to keeping track of people’s long-guns, federal NDP Leader Jack Layton is looking for compromise out of the next Parliament.

Layton, whose Thunder Bay MPs John Rafferty and Bruce Hyer both voted with the ruling Conservatives to scrap the much-maligned registry, said Wednesday during a campaign visit to Thunder Bay that he sees both sides and with a  little tinkering, things the registry can be saved and allow his rural representatives to follow the party line.

“There are legitimate issues that have been raised by legitimate gun owners and hunters and farmers, problems with the registry that really need to be addressed,” Layton said during an exclusive interview with Dougall Media reporters before an standing-room-only town hall meeting at the Current River Community Centre.

“We know Mr. Harper likes to divide the country between those who are for and those who are against and it’s my way or the highway. I take a different approach. I say why can’t we find some solutions here that would make it work out on all sides.”

The personable Layton, hobbled by recent hip surgery, looked none the worse for the wear after more than three weeks on the campaign trail, entering the gathering with rock-star swagger and high-fiving and shaking hands with everyone in sight.

Unlike Stephen Harper, who gave a straight speech at the Da Vinci Centre Monday night before hightailing his way back to the safety of the hotel, Layton seemed at home in the partisan crowd of 500 or so who turned out to hear him speak.

Following his speech he spent another 20 minutes or more taking questions from the audience, some of whom were forced to wait outside because of issues of space.

“It was the largest turnout since the ‘80s,” said Coun. Iain Angus, a former NDP MP in his own right.

Telling the crowd he’s running to be the prime minister Canadians can trust, buoyed by an uptick in popularity in the public opinion polls, he touched on an issue near and dear to Rafferty’s heart – pension reform.

“We’re going to strengthen retirement security in this country. The senior citizens who raised us and fed us deserved to live in dignity in their senior years,” he said. “I’m going to help those of you who are caring for aging parents at the same time as trying to build a future for your kids, the so-called sandwich generation.”

One of his first steps is a job creation strategy that works, he said.

“Giving tax cuts to banks is not going to create jobs in Thunder Bay. That’s (Stephen Harper’s) whole plan. Our plan is to give small businesses a tax cut, from 11 per cent to nine per cent,” he said, calling Hyer the architect of the idea.

“That’s an 18 per cent reduction in what is actually paid by small businesses in taxes and we know what they’ll do. They’ll turn around and hire more people, including young people.”
Layton, 60, also weighed in on deplorable conditions in remote First Nations communities, promising more money to up their standard of living.

With populations rising and federal funding increases falling short because of a two per cent annual increase cap, the problem isn’t going to go away anytime soon, he said.

“You’ve got overcrowding, you’ve got bad health conditions, you’ve got water they can’t drink and you’ve got jobs. We need to take that cap off … and we need to start to invest in housing, clean water and in education in these communities, as well as the whole issue of medicine and doctors and nurses for all communities.”

Saying wait times are longer than ever, a failure he pinned on Harper’s government, stressing a need for more home care.

But while health care falls mainly in the domain of the province, like Harper, Layton did promise to take on more responsibility federally through the Canada Health Act.

“We’re proposing the home care and long-term care be made part of the Canada Health Act because these are areas of health care that aren’t currently part of legislation. And that’s why we have such a haphazard system at the moment and many families are really struggling when they’re looking after a loved one at home,” Layton said, reassuring voters an NDP government would provide the $4 million promised in the Conservative budget to pay for the federal share of a cyclotron to aid early cancer detection in Northwestern Ontario.

Layton re-iterated a promise to double FedNor’s annual budget to $100 million, saying if economic development is to be encouraged in the north it should be a standalone agency, a way to kick start young entrepreneurs to provide meaningful jobs for the future.

Having it rolled into the ministry of industry, as the Conservatives did, is not the best solution. 
“To have it managed politically, as opposed to an arm’s length basis, where you know the decisions are going to be fair, that’s our preference. Maybe Mr. Harper likes to make sure his friends get help from FedNor. I don’t know,” he said.

Admitting the Ring of Fire is primarily a provincial matter, Layton did say the federal government has a role to ensure the jobs are kept in Ontario and Canada.

Having foreign companies come in and export the country’s resources for processing elsewhere does Canadians no good.

“When there’s any of these investment proposals, or if there’s any federal money involved in helping a company getting going in this kind of business, then we’ve got to insist that the jobs are here. I mean it’s just nuts not to,” he said.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is expected to land in Thunder Bay on Monday.