Jack Layton (Muppet) Back peddling? Say it ain't so!!!
Update:
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/09/06/1807367.html
NDP downplays antiwar resolutions
Controversial policy
OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jack Layton’s office is downplaying controversial policy resolutions drafted by grassroots party members, including one that warns Canadian troops in Afghanistan risk “acting like terrorists.”
The resolution and hundreds of others drafted by constituency associations are destined for the party’s policy convention which begins Friday.
But Karl Belanger, a spokesman for Layton, said most of the more than 600 resolutions will likely not even end up being discussed.
“There’s no reason whatsoever to start commenting on them,” Belanger said.
According to convention rules, a series of sub-committees will study the resolutions and send a select number to the floor for debate.
But on at least one major issue, Layton has adopted a position that mirrors what most of the party’s grassroots have been clamouring for. Several proposed policy resolutions call for the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan and Layton made the same call last week.
One resolution from the B.C. riding of Nanaimo-Cowichan prefaces its call for withdrawal with the caution that in the current conflict, “Canadian troops risk end up acting like terrorists, destroying communities and killing and maiming innocent people.”
Other resolutions call for Canada to nationalize major industries, including telephone and cable companies, reject the monarchy, and withdraw from major organizations and treaties such as Norad, NAFTA and the WTO.