Layton slams Harper as Bush's 'cheerleader'

[tuvor]

Jack Layton accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of being U.S. President George W. Bush's "cheerleader," as the federal NDP leader accepted an overwhelming leadership mandate from his party's faithful.

Layton, who received a 92 per cent approval rating from party delegates Sunday, mentioned the U.S. president at least five times in his closing address to the NDP's policy convention in Quebec City.

"He's become a cheerleader for President George Bush and he's leading Canada down the wrong track on every issue that matters to ordinary people," Layton said.

Layton accused Harper's Conservatives of selling out Canadian interests to satisfy Bush on climate change, on the softwood lumber deal and on the Afghan conflict.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/10/ndp.html

(Hard to disagree when Harper's making plans for his OWN 9/11 speech.)

[Captain Hilts]

1. That's an observation, not an opinion. nt

[daleo]

2. Harper's speech today about 911 and Afghanistan is pure Bushism

He's worse than a Bush cheerleader, he's a Bush plagiarist.

[ClusterFreak]

3. Ah yes, Jack....

...and may I remind you once again, Harper is your boy. You put him there pal. So shut the fuck up.

[V. Kid]

4. Ah, yes...the good old if your not for...

...Paul "Joe Clarke" Martin, then your for Stephen "GW's New Poodle" Harper, schtick.

[ClusterFreak]

7. Notwithstanding your awkwardly-framed claim....

...Jack put Stephen Harper in power. Deny that.

I'm a Liberal, you aren't...our allegiances skew our perspectives, no doubt.

The fact remains that Jack put a neo-con control freak in power.

[glarius]

6. I agree completely!.....No matter how you cut it, the fact is

without the help of Layton, Harper would NOT NOW BE PRIME MINISTER!

[V. Kid]

5. The thing I found most intresting from the NDP's convention...

...as a far off observer, was the visit of Afghan MP Malalai Joya. She pretty endorsed the NDP's new stance on Afghanistan, by saying that:

....the torture, the starvation and the growing barbarism that is taking place under the US-backed warlords. She is a powerful prophet for justice calling for the disarmament of both the "pro-US terrorists" along with the "anti-US terrorists."

"No country can bring liberation to another," she says.

"We are deeply sorry for the death of Canadian troops, but if Canada cannot act independently of the US government it will not be able to help the Afghan people."

Now I wouldn't expect the NDP to use the words terrorists, and pro-US, in the same sentence...considering the connotations that would imply. Nonetheless, the impression where both sides of the conflict are equally denounced as being bad for the Afghan people, is all the same. Not to mention her criticism of outside influences, such as Canada, Nato, and the US, etc, and their actions during the conflict.