A supporter photographs Sarah Layton, Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, and Mike Layton while marching in Toronto's Labour Day parade on on Sept. 5, 2011. The annual march was dedicated to the memory of late NDP chief Jack Layton.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Jack Layton did not want New Democrats to decide on a new leader in January, party president Brian Topp says.
Mr. Topp, who was with the NDP leader just before he died and is considering a run at the job, said Mr. Layton was quite clear about that.
"Jack said in his final letter that his advice was to have a race reasonably soon in the new year, with a campaign approximately as long as in 2003 – a six or seven month campaign," Mr. Topp told The Globe on Tuesday morning.
It's is an important distinction as Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair has said he will not run if a convention is held in January. The deputy leader, who is seen as the other potential front-runner, told The Globe's Daniel Leblanc last week that he will not get involved in a leadership race if he is " completely hobbled" by the timing.
Mr. Mulcair was also critical of backroom lobbying within the party in favour of a January convention. Instead, he wants a seven or eight month campaign.
Mr. Topp says Mr. Layton was thinking the same thing.
"In offering this advice, I think he was balancing the need to have a good party-building campaign, with the need to carry on our work in reasonable time," Mr. Topp said. "We do need to take advantage of this process to build our party. We shouldn't do what the Liberals are doing, and talk about ourselves for too long. The 2003 campaign struck the right balance."
The 2003 leadership contest that elected Mr. Layton was about seven months long.
The party's federal council is to decide these issues later this week. Given that he is a potential candidate, Mr. Topp has recused himself from that process.
"I'm sure they'll do a thoughtful job of balancing all of this, and all of us in the party will cheerfully abide by whatever they decide," he said.
Recession won't block the axe
Stephen Harper and his Conservatives will not retreat from their vow to cut $4-billion from government spending despite the downturn in the economy, a senior Harper cabinet minister says.
Tories meet this week for their annual summer caucus meeting. One of the messages emerging from the gathering is that there will be no backing away from planned cuts, despite increased pressure from the opposition.
The NDP and Liberals have been pushing the Conservatives to rethink their plans, given the fragile global economy – especially in the United States.
But Marjory LeBreton, the Government House leader in the Senate, told The Globe one of the benefits of majority government is that it allows the Conservatives to do some "serious long range planning" – including pushing ahead with the cuts.
"Certainly, the results of the election proved it. ... I think the general public really want to find savings and I think most people think there is excesses in the government and some of the departments," Ms. LeBreton said. "In the long run we are going through a rough patch in the economy ... this [plan to cut spending]will actually pay off for us."
Treasury Board President Tony Clement is to make a presentation to caucus on Thursday, updating MPs on progress made by the cabinet committee debating where to cut spending. The group – of which Ms. LeBreton is a member – has been meeting all summer, including a lengthy meeting last Wednesday.
Having served during Brian Mulroney's majority governments, the senator advises her colleagues to take advantage of their mandate. She reminded them of the first Mulroney budget when, finance minister Michael Wilson wanted to reduce the indexation of Old Age Security payments.
It was a controversial move. And Mr. Mulroney reversed course after an elderly woman, Solange Denis, protested on Parliament Hill. She accused the prime minister of lying to seniors and then famously told him: "Goodbye Charlie Brown – you won't get back in three years."
Mr. Mulroney's decision "cut the legs right under Michael Wilson," Ms. LeBreton said. "That was a horrible mistake because not only did it upset Wilson's budget predictions ... it indicated he would back down."
She said that when one puts today's proposed cuts in context of an $83-billion to $85-billion spending envelope, savings should not be that difficult to find. "It would have to be a catastrophic event [for the government to back down now]" Ms. LeBreton added.
Sunday TV gets competitive
Veteran broadcaster Tom Clark returns to politics after a year's absence with a new show on Global. It's called The West Block with Tom Clark – an appropriate name given Mr. Clark's previous stint in Washington, where he covered the goings on in the West Wing of the White House.
Mr. Clark, who had a long career with CTV, will serve as Global's chief political correspondent. The new Sunday show begins Oct. 16 at noon – an hour after CTV's long-running Question Period.
His show will be launched with a cocktail party for MPs on Oct. 7.