Layton asks Stephen Lewis to run for Parliament
CBC News (Last Updated Fri, 19 Dec 2003 18:03:11)
TORONTO - Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton wants Stephen Lewis, the former leader of Ontario's New Democrats, to run for the party in the next national election.
Layton confirmed Friday that he's asked Lewis to seek a spot in his caucus. But Lewis, the UN special envoy for combating AIDS in Africa, may be too busy, the NDP leader said.
"I've raised it with him," Layton said. "However … he's very, very active in his current vitally important project in Africa, and so I wouldn't suggest that there's a strong likelihood that he would make that switch."
Rumours surfaced recently that Lewis, Canada's former ambassador to the United Nations, would run for the NDP in a Toronto riding. If he agrees to go after an MP's job, Lewis will add even more political star power to the NDP's slate of candidates.
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/19/layton_031219That Lewis would even consider running is another welcome indication of the revitalization of the federal party. (Party legend Ed Broadbent's returning, and polls suggest we're now Canadians second choice.) In a year-end interview, Paul Martin virtually ignored the Conservatives and targetted instead the NDP. Great news. For the last decade we were virtually ignored as voters polarized between Chretien's centrist Liberals and the far right. Now the left is becoming the natural opposition of Paul Martin's Liberals, and it's the far right that's marginalized.