Layton a no show!

Think about this.. The NDP have never been more popular so you would imagine that their normal cadre of lazy ass teachers union slobs are actually having to work for a change. No wonder their missing appointments and dropping the balls.

..but I'm sure Rev will show up and tell us how Jack was saving cats from trees or something..

Jack wasn't looking too shit hot yesterday. Hopefully it isn't his health.

Jacky Boy knows all about leaves. lol.

Riden....you partisan hack you!

Yup. Running dog lackey of the man.

We almost ended up with a ONE candidate meeting.
The NDP showed up, he's been here before and there was a photo op the next day
The Liberal showed up an hour late, missed the turn-off on the highway.
The Tory, Sharon Smith was still looking for her clothes or something.
The CHP couldn't make a Sunday night meet, maybe throat too sore preaching all day.
The A&W didn't put out a tub of grease to fuel the Green's bus.
The Marijuana Party's still looking at the calendar and haven't figured out what the numbers under the picture mean....
The Work Less party took the day off.
The Natural Law candidate got shot down by hunters flying over Vanderhoof.
The Canadian Action Party has yet to act and find a candidate...

Hey everyone, this election is a weird one for me personally as its the first federal election since I turned 18 that I wasn't running as a candidate(for the NDP). I've also avoided commenting though there's been plenty of opportunity until now.

It is in fact rare for Federal Political leaders to be present for debates in their own ridings, it has little to do with arrogance and mostly to do with the realities of running a National campaign, they have to try to get to as many of the 308 ridings as they can in 35 days. Jack does a great job of being accessible to his constituents in between elections because he knows he can't be there like a traditional candidate during the campaign itself(try working on one of those campaigns, its a little surreal because your candidate isn't physically there).

Its actually more noteworthy when a federal leader IS spending a lot of time in their home riding during the campaign, usually means they are facing a possible defeat. Furthermore with the Leaders being broadcast into people's homes on a daily basis, people in their ridings know where they stand a lot better then people in other ridings know their own candidates.

During my own election campaigns I'm like the energizer bunny, but it is extremely difficult to keep up that kind of pace for 35 days (or 60+ in a municipal campaign) it is very easy to get sick as you get run down and you are shaking a LOT of hands.
Jack keeps up a dizzying pace during election campaigns, it would not be surprising to hear of Jack(or any leader) catching a bug, though it probably won't hit him full blown until after the campaign.

In 2004 as a young candidate(24) I had the privilege of getting to be part of the National Tour for a day. It was quite the whirlwind tour. There was a leaders debate being hosted in St. Johns Newfoundland called "The great Canadian job interview" it was youth centered and focused. Paul Martin and Jack Layton attended, Stephen Harder stayed away (I mean it was young people asking questions on the economy, health, education, the environment).

The NDP in an effort to show its own commitment to youth invited eight of its young candidates to attend and participate in the event(They would have invited more, but there were only 8 free seats on the plane). 1 from BC, 1 from AB, 2 from MB, 1 from ON(my friend Max who was 18 and a candidate went to his prom instead ;-)

, 3 from QC.

Here's a loose accounting of the 24 hrs:

We were wheels up from Pearson at 10am (est), during the flight Jack read notes, rehearsed speeches and did an impromptu scrum on the plane.

We landed in St. Johns and boarded a bus which headed to Tim Hortons, yes I said Tim Hortons, where Jack met with a local candidate and met everyone in the Tim's. The poor staff, having a nice day at work and suddenly a busload of staff, leader, candidates, RCMP etc.. and a busload of media descend upon them.

After this stop (and me with a coffee in hand) we proceed to the harbour where another local candidate had his office. We stopped there and Jack sat at a computer to respond to text messages with questions sent from young people coast to coast. The 8 young candidates all helped and I think there were a bunch of young people shocked to get a msg back directly from Jack. Jack then gave his big speech for the media.

We then got back on the bus and went to check into the hotel. At this point we got an hour long break. The only reason the leader's tour stops is to give reporters a chance to file their stories. I was walking past the gym on my way to my room only to look in and see Jack working out. After our break we reconvened and headed to a large hall for a Rally with 500 New Democrats and the provincial leader. We were all introduced, Jack gave another speech and after the rally we were back to the hotel for a dinner break. The only restaurant us young candidates could get to was an East Side Mario's. LOL our food arrived just as we had to go, so we got it all packed up and everyone tried to eat their food on the bus (not easy trying to eat pasta while wearing your best clothes on a bumpy bus).

We arrived at Memorial for the Debate, Jack went in. The organizers decided not to allow us young candidates in for fear we'd get up and ask questions ourselves (not a chance, even though one of the candidates was running against Paul Martin and couldn't get him to a debate). So we had to watch in a sound room. After the debate we met Jack in the Foyer and after watching Paul Martin beeline out of there flanked by a phalanx of RCMP officers the 9 of us stayed, mingled and answered questions 1on1. Jack had to go after a half hour and another media scrum his 'public' day being finished at around 11pm NL time.

The rest of us stayed for another hour then decided to head back to the hotel. All of us being under 30 decided that we were only here for one night and we should get changed and head down to George Street. Politics is a funny thing, normally 8 young people going out for a night on the town wouldn't attract so much as a blink of attention. But 8 young candidates going out for a drink while they are part of the Leaders tour creates quite a stir. It started with the 8 of us + 2 staffers. We arrived at a fine pub with great live music and good priced beer. Then several of the cameramen and photographers arrived, then several more staffers including the media staffers. So we ended up as almost 20 ppl in the bar split up into 3 groups. The candidates, the staff and the media ppl. The media was there to see if anything happened so they could report on it and the party sent people to ensure nothing happened and if it did to put a spin on it. Meanwhile the eight of us sat in an upstairs corner of the bar and spend some time getting to know each other (we had all been strangers to each other a short 12 hrs ago). We also went down and danced for 20 min or so, but were all tired so we went back to sit. We were there until last call (3am) and I was hitting my bed at 3:30am.

I was back up again at 6am as we had to be back on the bus at 7am. We also of course had to be looking our best, so no jump out of bed and hop on the bus. That was the day that Jack dipped his feet into the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans. So onto the bus at 7am, we drove to the airport got on the plane. Breakfast was served there. They had a couple of small tables set up. I note this because the media often complains about the food on NDP campaigns and I gotta say they still got a way better meal then was served to the party staff. Ours was tasty but still basic. They had what we had plus all the nice pastries, fruit etc...

I slept most of the way and we were landing in Toronto at 10am Saturday morning, exactly 24hrs after we left. I said my goodbyes to the candidates and hopped on the bus with Jack and we headed to downtown Toronto to march in the Portugal day parade. 3 hrs later I was headed back to my riding of Scarborough Southwest to join my volunteers and spend the rest of the day canvassing. When I got home at 9:45pm I crashed and slept until 10am Sunday morning.

The whole point to this was that my own experience was but 1 day out of 1 campaign on the leader's tour. All the leaders go thru a lot during campaigns but Jack with his tireless spirit brings something special to it. Having known Jack personally for over 10 years I know if Canadians ever elect him PM that he'll do the same for Canadians day in and day out.

Dan Harris