OTTAWA—Jack Layton says he is calling Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s bluff over the controversial omnibus budget bill that calls for the sale of Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. and the watering down of federal environmental assessment requirements.
The NDP leader is to tell a party gathering in Toronto on Saturday that the NDP caucus will no longer be “bullied” by a Conservative government that believes the threat of a federal election will hold the opposition parties at bay.
The NDP will oppose the bill, Layton told the Star Thursday.
“I think that it is time for us to take a firm position,” Layton said. “To propose that we eliminate environmental assessments for major energy projects with what we’re seeing going on in the Gulf (of Mexico) is madness.”
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The headline should read Jack Layton sticks another knife in Mr Ziffy.
Jack Layton knows there is no way his party can influence the vote on this bill so he opposes it just to show he can. Will this get him and his party more votes in the next election? I doubt it.