NDP LEADER PITCHES ENVIRONMENTAL MESSAGE AT UW

Layton Urges Students To Give Themselves Strong Voice By Voting

Jack Layton had a spring in his step as he walked into the Student Life
Centre at the University of Waterloo yesterday.

Under his leadership, the federal New Democratic Party has paid off its
debt, doubled its membership and, according to the polls, is nearing its
high-water mark for national support.

More than 200 students greeted Layton with applause as he arrived for a
question-and-answer session.

The former university professor was clearly comfortable in this environment.

He was asked about marijuana use.

"I never exhaled -- that's my story and I'm sticking to it," Layton said to
laughter and more applause.

Layton, who plans to run against Liberal MP Dennis Mills in the federal
riding of Toronto-Danforth in the next election, appealed to the gathering
of young people to get out and vote.

Canadians older than 80 are five times more likely to vote than someone
under 25, Layton said.

"It is time to have a strong voice from the young."

Layton spoke in favour of allowing gay and lesbian marriages, the
decriminalization of marijuana, more funding for post-secondary education
and replacing student loans with student grants.

He also supported affordable housing, the Kyoto treaty to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, and more support from Ottawa for pro-environment initiatives.

Layton said someone buying a hybrid vehicle that runs on both electricity
and gasoline pays more for that vehicle than a conventional one. As a
result, that person pays more GST.

"The federal government is penalizing you for doing the right thing
environmentally," Layton said.

Earlier, he decried the government's support for the oil and coal industries.

"We still subsidize fossil fuels to the tune of $1 billion a year."

International trade agreements should be rewritten so that multinational
corporations cannot win millions of dollars in compensation from
governments when laws are passed that reduce a corporation's profits, said
Layton.

As part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, corporations can take
governments to a closed-door tribunal to seek compensation when that
government has passed laws that interfere with the company's operations and
sales.

For example, Layton said, the city of Hudson, Que., banned the use of
pesticides within its boundaries and then had to defend the bylaw all the
way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Now, a large company is seeking
compensation from the NAFTA tribunal.

"When they say that trying to stop the use of poisons is a restraint on
trade, well I don't give a damn if it is a restraint on trade," said Layton.

According to four recent opinion polls the NDP are running at 17 per cent
to 21 per cent of support among voters. In the 1988 election the NDP peaked
in terms of support at 20.5 per cent, and won 43 seats. There is a lot of
speculation that after the next federal election the Liberals will only be
able to stay in power with the support of the NDP.

Layton said that support has a price, and first up is changing the way the
country votes. The NDP favours proportional representation. That is a
party's popular support directly translates into parliamentary seats. If a
party receives 25 per cent of the popular vote, it gets a quarter of the seats.

"When six out of 10 Canadians vote against the government, and the
government gets back in, there is something wrong with that framework, and
it should be changed," said Layton earlier in the day during an interview
with The Record's editorial board.

"Almost all democracies in the developed world have proportional
representation," said Layton.