AGAINST THE ROPES

Jack Layton Finds His Footing As Paul Martin Takes The Helm

Jack Layton hesitated when he saw the bright red boxing gloves we'd brought
to liven up our cover shoot, and we should have expected his aversion to a
symbol of combat. This is the politician who accused Jean Chretien of not
going far enough in Canada's watered down opposition to war with Iraq, the
same politician who's now railing against Canada's flirtation with American
missile defence.

Layton eventually dawned the mitts on condition our allusion to boxing
remain purely figurative. But you should've seen how quickly he got into it
once those gloves went on, dancing in front of the lens like a weathered
pro. It's been the same with his career on the Hill - thrown into the
federal ring earlier this year, this municipal guy has come out a scrapper,
and a popular one at that.

Jack Layton, for those few who don't yet know, became the NDP's fresh-faced
leader this January. Bono didn't show up at the convention, neither did
Sloan or Ron Sexsmith, but the 53-year-old Toronto city councillor made
headlines anyway as the key to NDP rejuvenation. A community man with an
urban agenda, his perks include a PhD in political science, a moustache
that actually looks good, and the honesty to admit that marijuana is a
"wonderful substance."

Not to mention an inventive platform that could actually get the younger
generation back into politics (see sidebar).

Layton's main contender is Paul Martin, an ex-Canada Steamship Lines CEO
turned Liberal policymaker who will take the helm of his next big ship on
December 12. Canadians remember him alternately as a deficit-busting hero
of fiscal prudence and the man who slashed and burned social spending so
the rich could keep their comforts. Now, thanks largely to Layton, we're
starting to see Martin as a tax-dodging bigwig, more interested in running
this country like a business, not a home.

"It turns out Canadians are not very happy when they learn Paul Martin took
the Canadian flag off his ships on the international fleet of [CSL], put up
flags of convenience from Liberia, Panama and other places like that so
that taxes that should have been paid in Canada didn't have to be paid by
his company," Layton told X Press last week from the NDP's offices downtown.

A few months ago NDP set up flyourflag.ca so people could vote on what flag
Martin would raise atop the Peace Tower once he was Prime Minister. It was
a gimmicky way of using Martin's business ethics to question his politics.

Mischievous! cried the Grits and a few pundits, but Layton's not letting
go. Last time X Press checked the site the Esso logo was the flag of choice
because of Martin's recent hinted backstep on Kyoto. Following closely
behind it is the Stars and Stripes, for other pressing reasons.

"After the war in Iraq, Paul Martin came along and said, 'Oh, we've upset
the Bush administration. The best way to get back on board with him is to
agree to negotiate the anti-missile system.' Talk about kissing up at the
expense of the security of the world," said Layton, as insistently as
Bono's Liberal coronation warning.

As skilfully as Layton takes swings and jabs at Martin the man, the smiling
frontrunner among the opposition (yes, frontrunner - a recent Ipsos-Reid
poll put the NDP above the Alliance in popularity nationwide) wants to talk
alternatives. One has to do with debt.

Liberal strategy is "like the family who's got a few [sick] members ..the
roof is leaking, another one wants to go to university and you decide that
you're going to accelerate the payment down of your mortgage.

"Any family I know would keep paying the mortgage at the regular rate and
they would instead be taking any extra cash ... and putting it into the
needs of people."

The home metaphor stands out in a world where politics has become a simple
matter of balancing the books, and staying out of the public's face.

"An alternative has to be a group of people who believe that it's actually
time to invest in our country, not have more cuts and more tax cuts,
particularly to the affluent, to the well-to-do, and the banks and the big
corporate sector," he said. This is street NDP, activist NDP, a far cry
from its agricultural and labour roots, although they've not disappeared
completely. The NDP is changing because Canadian politics is changing.

Liberals "really have a conservative now leading [the party]," Layton
assured us, eliminating the traditional centre in Canadian politics.

"It's not really the centre," he explained. "But it allows [the

Liberals] to define themselves as somehow reasonable. Anyone who's out on a
wing is extreme in some way, or not complete."

This phenomenon could benefit both the Liberals and the NDP before a united
right, but what's interesting is as Layton goes up in the polls, Martin
goes down. Since he coasted to victory on a wing and a chequebook, the
Liberal party actually dropped three per cent in popularity, according to
Ipsos-Reid numbers. At this rate, we should see some fierce rounds before
the next election. Layton, you might want to hold onto those gloves.

PLATFORM IN A NUTSHELL

The NDP has no official election platform yet but they've been leaking bits
and pieces and Layton's promising it's going to be big, with a potential
200,000 NDP members to make it work. Here's a few hints compiled from our
chat and recent news bites.

I've got the power: Nationalize a Toronto-born plan to retrofit existing
buildings to conserve energy, with costs covered by hydro savings.

It's a breeze: Support a Wind Energy Association plan to build 10,000 wind
turbines over next decade. A Calgary program called Ride the Wind hopes to
power that city's light rail train solely by wind power.

Fume-free cars: Free trade has gutted Canada's auto industry. To bring it
back, we should require manufacturers produce alternative-fuel vehicles,
offer financial assistance for their research, and offer Canadians $5,000
to buy one.

Hold the interest: Credit card interest rates are too high. Layton wants to
force 'em down.

Legalize it: Layton's not as hostile to marijuana as the average stuffy
politician. Legalization isn't far from decriminalization.

Saying "I do": Despite attacks on Layton for not allowing debate among his
party on the gay marriage issue, he stuck to his guns. The decision would
have been made by now under an NDP government.

No nukes: Layton despises the American plan to militarize space by setting
up a ballistic missile shield over North America. Let the Yanks whine!

Help for da real little guy: Affordable housing projects now, with federal
money for cities to look after social services downloaded by the provinces,
all while balancing the budget. Who knew?