"New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton (sorry, prime-minister-in-waiting Jack Layton) is having a splendid election campaign," The Globe's Jeffrey Simpson wrote Saturday in his column How can voters take the NDP seriously?
"He always does.
"Mr. Layton is an excellent talker, indefatigable, focused, experienced in the black arts of exaggeration, always on the attack and not taken seriously by the media.
"Well, that's not entirely fair. The media take him seriously as a player in the media narrative of reporting politics: as a horse in a political race, doing well at the turn, slowing a bit here, gaining momentum there, depending on the results of the latest poll(s).
"Nobody expects the NDP to win, or even become the Official Opposition. So Mr. Layton can say just about whatever he likes — scatter promises with political impunity — secure in the knowledge that neither the media nor the other parties will subject what he says to scrutiny.
He can even take to affirming what a government led by "Prime Minister Jack Layton" would do, without anybody pricking the absurdity and pomposity of the pretense . . .
"But, hey, campaigns are mostly about rhetoric, horse-race coverage, promises, television ads, good guys and bad guys, broad visions.
"If anyone thought the NDP had a remote chance to form a government, serious attention might be paid to what the leader is actually saying. Fortunately for Mr. Layton, that doesn't happen."
Whether you agree or not, it's a provocative argument. That's why we at globeandmail.com are pleased that Mr. Simpson came online on Monday to take your questions on his column, on the NDP and on the campaign so far.
Your questions and Mr. Simpson's answers appear at the bottom of this page.
Mr. Simpson has won all three of Canada's leading literary prizes — the Governor-General's award for non-fiction book writing, the National Magazine Award for political writing, and the National Newspaper Award for column writing (twice). He has also won the Hyman Solomon Award for excellence in public policy journalism. In January 2000, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada.
He joined The Globe and Mail in 1974. His career with the newspaper began at City Hall in Toronto and with coverage of Quebec politics. In 1977, he became a member of the paper's Ottawa bureau, and eighteen months later he was named The Globe and Mail's Ottawa bureau chief. From 1981-1983, Mr. Simpson served as The Globe's European correspondent based in London, England. He began writing his national affairs column in January, 1984.
Mr. Simpson has published six books — Discipline of Power (1980); Spoils of Power (1988); Faultlines, Struggling for a Canadian Vision (1993); The Anxious Years (1996) and Star-Spangled Canadians (2000). His most recent book, The Friendly Dictatorship: Reflections on Canadian Democracy (2001), was nominated for the Donner Prize as the best book on public policy.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Tenille Bonoguore, globeandmail.com: Good afternoon, Jeffrey, and thank you so much for joining us today. Before we dive into the many submitted questions, can you please tell us how much of an impact you believe the NDP will have at the ballot box this Oct. 14?
Jeffrey Simpson: Thank you, Tenille. The NDP, as its top people will tell you, always struggles with a dilemma at the end of a campaign in which it appears the Conservatives might win: How do they position themselves as the best party to "stop" the Conservative majority? Instinctively, more people believe the Liberals, as historically the larger party, are better positioned to accomplish objective, and votes tend to flow their way at the end, rather than to the NDP. In this campaign, Mr. Layton is clearly more highly regarded that Mr. Dion (who isn't?), and therefore this drain towards the Liberals might not happen. It has been surprising to me that thus far the NDP does not appear to have been much hurt by the improved performance of the Greens.
