04.29.2011 10:23 PM

About that story

I was on Sun News tonight. My take: if a political party was ultimately behind this story – and it’s highly unlikely a political party wasn’t – they’ll be really, really sorry if they get found out.

Voters aren’t stupid. Things like this don’t happen by accident.

108 Comments

  1. Harvey Martin says:

    I totally agree, Warren. He wasn’t charged with anything, and this didn’t come up during any of the eight previous campaigns he was involved in. Voters will be turned off by this type of last-minute, desperate crap. This may end up helping the NDP.

    • east of eden says:

      I agree that it smacks of desperation. It reminds me of the ‘scandals’ created about our PM: wafergate, shaking Ben’s hand instead of humiliating the 12 year-old in front of his classmates and the camera, the ‘scary Harper’ slurs, the Harper hates women, Harper hates gays, Harper hates Aboriginals…you know, that sort of thing. It does, indeed, smack of desperation.

  2. WildGuesser says:

    Some would speculate that mistakenly entering a previously raided massage parlour instead of a medical building with RMTs doesn’t happen by accident either. In the end, this will keep Jack at the forefront of the news for the final weekend of the campaign. Can’t see him not winning opposition leader status now.

  3. Bill says:

    I was at the Fairmont Montebello this summer and decided to take advantage of their spa and get a massage. I was asked to strip down to my underwear and had a blanket over me. I was asked to lie down on my stomach and then on my back. See how dirty that can sound? That’s normal practice and of course nothing happened. I say this is a definite smear campaign against Layton.

  4. Late Friday Smear Job Carpet Bombing Operation (2 days before E-Day) Complete. Far Better Than Swift-Boating.

    Yup, this has nothing to do at all with NDP opponents. Purely random release timing.

    On the plus side, Canadian politics are now a fine mix of French, Italian *and* American gutter politics. Moving up in the world.

  5. smevoy says:

    Warren – distance yourself from Sun Media. Please.

    • Dr.J says:

      Little surprised with the career advice Warren…if this was Harper in the same situation the left would be having a party…When Ford’s past came out didn’t you call that a “Game changer” and it only helped Ford popularity? Maybe the same happens here, who knows

      • smevoy says:

        First the Ignatieff story it did run, now this – it’s one step up from the Enquirer. Real journalists, like WK, should not be involved.

        • Warren says:

          I’m a paid commentator. I’m not an employee there. And, BTW, Jack and his wife were the first political leaders to come on Sun News.

          • Reality Bites says:

            And just as there’s always some dirt that sticks regardless of how false the allegations are, you can’t be paid by Sunmedia (and previously the National Post) without being associated with them

          • Warren says:

            Well, Mr. Anonymous, you’ve come here dozens of times to comment. Does that mean you’re associated, too?

            Anyway, don’t come back. I don’t need life lessons from a guy who won’t use his real name.

  6. Patrick Hamilton says:

    In France, if a politician is found to have a mistress, his popularity goes up!

    Even if it was a rub and tug,( and for all I know it simply was a massage he was getting), I think no less of the man….

    Onward to keeping Mr. Harper and his band of self-righteous hypocrites from a majority, Mr. Layton!

    • WildGuesser says:

      Even if it was a rub and tug…? The issue is showing concern for the welfare of the vulnerable ‘masseuses’ of these types of establishments, not whether a patron does anything illegal or not. Going to strip clubs and getting lap dances is (used to be?) legal too but I don’t think anyone for social justice would be saying that patrons of such establishments are the types of people who should be going to parliament to champion the rights of women and minorities.

    • Phil in London says:

      So if he beat his wife would the defence that he might be admired in some Arab cultures work as an excuse. I don’t really have a problem with what Jack gets off on in his private life but I think the defence by any other method then a “boy did I ph?ck up” is just lame.

  7. Bob says:

    BTW – I can well understand why you commentators would want to defend the leader of the NDP…… You don’t have much stomach for defending the leader of the Lieberals now do you.

    • Warren says:

      Only an Ottawan would say you can’t ride a bike in TO all winter. Some sleuth.

      • Just a linker, not an agreer and I saw someone make a command to the same effect as yours to Glen.

        Now were I to be in a disreputable area, I’d rather have a car parked there than my bike. I love my road bike and would never leave it in a seedy area for fear of theft or damage. A car — would park it anywhere, thats what insurance is for. Bikes – we self insure; rates are just insane.

        • scanner says:

          there are no seedy areas in Toronto, Michael, or alternately, all are seedy.
          I remember coming out of Betty’s one night (where you could always find the entire sports desk of the sun after the paper went to bed) to discover a raid in progress almost directly across the street from the Sun building. Some young ladies being bundled into police cars, a gentleman in cuffs and the news staff of the Sun out with cameras like gawkers. Of course nobody from the Sun ever went there.

          • Years ago I visited a friend that worked in RCMP HQ in Montreal; after work we went to a local bar for a drink. It turns out that it was one of *those* types of bars.

            The place was full of very fit 6 foot tall men with crew cuts. Uniforms left behind of course.

            I didn’t see any Quebecor execs there but who knows what goes on in the back rooms.

          • Patrick Hamilton says:

            @ Scanner, I agree with you, same for Vancouver, many of the rub and tugs are located in what would be called decent neighbourhoods……
            Cleopatras was in Yaletown for many, many years…..

    • smelter rat says:

      Ha! Out here on the prairies people ride bikes at -30c. Some people need to get out of the big city more often.

  8. Mark McLaughlin says:

    Come on people. This is news, and it would be news no matter who it was about. A smear job is an unsubstantiated rumour. The facts of this story have been corroborated by the NDP. The only question is what happened behind that closed door, and we’ll never know.

    Ask yourself what your wife would think if you were the “Jack Layton” in this story. She’d be pissed, and for good reason. Mine would be, and that’s because she doesn’t think me a fool to be found in a seedy “massage parlour” with a bouncer out front, danger light inside and bed in the “massage” room.

    I’ve had a few massages and it’s always been on one of those tables with the hole in it. For my head (with the face).

    • allegra fortissima says:

      “The only question is what happened behind that closed door…” none of our business!

      Kudos to Olivia Chow, her reaction is what I call classy!

      • allegra fortissima says:

        Look at Namesake’s comment – apparently is wasn’t and isn’t illegal to go to a massage parlor. Mind you, the establishment is licensed – are you trying to say that the City of Toronto is licensing illegal businesses?

    • catherine says:

      I kind of agree. It’s a true story so just get it out and hear what the other side has to say. They’ve said it. It’s not like Layton releasing the RCMP letter on Goodale during an election or like Layton’s defamation of an innocent Liberal candidate in the same election:

      In other words, the scandal they accused Mr. Oliver of perpetrating never happened. Mr. Hansen-Carlson’s notarized statement to Elections Canada, his TV interviews during the election and Mr. Layton’s smearing of Mr. Oliver’s good name in the media have been shown to be baseless.

      That was a fabricated case. At least this one is not fabricated and Layton can explain.

      • Paul R Martin says:

        Well said Catherine. When it comes to smears, Layton and the NDP are not clean. They also tried a number on James Moore when a NDP MP falsely claimed that he was looking at porn in the House of Commons. I have no sympathy for Jack.

  9. Gareth says:

    Why distance himself from Sun Media? The just ran a story that all these sourpusses would have salivated over if “Stephen Harper” had been used in place of “Jack Layton.”
    Hypocrites.

  10. Namesake says:

    Ugh. The less said about this story, the better, for almost everyone concerned.

    But John Ivison’s more gentile hatchet-wielding the other day wasn’t much better, parroting the PMO’s sky is falling / economy will collapse if the international community senses they’ll get close to the levers of power etc., by noting that our dollar has sunk against 17 countries’ currencies over the previous week… w/o providing the context (i.e., that that period also encompasses when the NDP still wasn’t perceived as a threat, and that the dollar had very minute fluctuations, like, a tenth of one cent, from its very high level of $1.05 US, or a discussion of what else causes currency fluctuations).

    http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/04/28/john-ivison-harper-on-the-edge-but-of-what/

    Meanwhile, on the national news just now, when the NDP is at their highest point and it’s being noted that it has a very real chance of forming a gov’t after a non-confidence vote: the TSE stock market has had a “surge,” and our dollar has just closed at its highest level in 3 and a half years.

    Oh, and the economy itself that Harper was so busy focusing on? Not only did it stop recovering thanks to his rapt attentions: it actually shrunk, in February.

    http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/110429/dq110429a-eng.htm

    • Laughed at that component of Ivison’s article too. I trade currencies. The movements of the CAD throughout the election, and in particular during the surge, have not been remarkable at all. No marked CAD weakness has been during the past week of surge-o-mania and after trading in a range all week the CAD broke out of resistance and moved to new highs against the USD today.

      If Layton becoming PM would cause the CAD to drop 10 percent, you’d find a ton of business people — exporters — rushing out to vote NDP.

      Unfortunately even Layton wouldn’t have that much power. The moribund USD calls the shots. Get used to paying more for gasoline but don’t blame it on Jack.

  11. John says:

    I felt sick to my stomach reading the posted article, full of innuendo and guilt by association. I agree with other posters – I may not agree with your views Mr. Kinsella, but associating yourself with Sun media will only tarnish your name.

  12. Mike London says:

    It will be interesting to see how the other leaders respond if asked about this incident.

    • Lord Kitchener says:

      “no comment” is the best option – they need to hammer home their platforms with patriotic zeal

      • Philip says:

        Agreed. Commenting on this sort thing only ties that person to the hatchet job. I can’t be the only one to smell the fear and desperation coming off this. The fact that it came from the Sun chain tells me everything I need to know about the origins of the leak.

    • fritz says:

      My guess Ignatieff will call it the smear job it is and mention the the hit job the Sun did on him recently. Harper will say it’s not important and say the real danger in giving the NDP power is they will destroy the economy. He will also deny the CPC war room being the source of the smear all the while repeating as many of the details as he can get away with.

  13. Eenusch says:

    I’m sad to hear that Jack’s ‘Happy Ending’ was interrupted in 1996.

    Hopefully, a ‘Happy Ending’ will also be delayed for him on Monday, May 2nd.

    • Craig Chamberlain says:

      Did a high-ranking advisor in the PMO take a sex worker to a party at 24 Sussex? Do I have that right?

      • JH says:

        And the Lame Stream Media certainly had a field day with that – as did the other political parties.
        Thus the NDP gets the same treatiment. So no harm no foul, same should apply to any political party, if this is the standard you are using.

        • Craig Chamberlain says:

          Ah, but here’s the problem: Your friends make up stuff all the time about their opponents.

          But as far as know, a-Harper-top-advisor-in-the-PMO-as-convict-with-sex-worker-guest-at-party-at-24 Sussex actually happened — unless I am mistaken about that?! And so I can imagine, based on the license your friends take with the truth on behalf of the Homeland and Our Leader, what they would have done with real information. Even this issue with Layton must die, as unless someone with direct information steps forward, we only have speculation — And I thought you personally didn’t like that kind of stuff.

  14. DL says:

    I’m surprised that that the powers that be haven’t arranged to have a cavalcade of Brink’s trucks photographed driving to the US border – so that people will fear a flight of capital if the NDP wins!

  15. WesternGrit says:

    The State has no place in the bedrooms (or beds) of the nation. Let’s remember that.

    • Patrick Hamilton says:

      Its in the public domain, what risk is there now of blackmail?…..do you really think Mr. Layton was a frequenter of said possibly not quite legitimate massage parlours after this incident?….I give Mr. Layton more credit than that.

  16. john g says:

    Really Warren?

    Have we found out yet which political party leaked a draft AG report to the Canadian Press that contained allegations known to have been removed from a subsequent draft?

    Yeah…didn’t think so.

  17. Enough Harper says:

    smear job, of course. Sun Media has hit a new low.

    But one thing I’ve noticed is that it’s mostly men saying people will overlook this. I’m not sure how women will react, though.

    They may have a far different take.

  18. Riley says:

    There’s absolute hysteria in the press now about the NDP and you know what? The only group people trust less than Lawyers and Politicians is Journalists. I say NDP majority.

  19. catherine says:

    About the source, the Star reports:

    relied on an anonymous police source who said that in 1996 he and his partner found Layton lying naked on a bed in a Chinatown massage parlour suspected of being a bawdy house.

    The report said the ex-cop recorded the incident in his notebook, which was reviewed and photocopied by the Sun, and that Layton, a Metro Toronto councillor at the time, did not explain why he had no clothes on but said he had not received any sexual services.

    So, this is easily checked. This is a retired copy involved in the event.

    • Wayne says:

      Isn’t Fantino a retired cop? Not saying that Fantino is the source of the leak. However, just because you are a retired cop doesn’t mean that you are without a motive.

      • Sezme says:

        Absolutely. This story is an admittedly unprofessional act by an anonymous retired cop with an admitted ax to grind with regard to Layton. He admits in his story to having considered trying use this to ruin Layton’s career at the time, but I guess he decided to wait until Jack was on the verge of being the leader of the opposition. How convenient. This guy (the anonymous cop) has absolutely no credibility.

        Other points: (1) Jack and Olivia lived at the time a few blocks away from Toronto’s Chinatown. If he was getting massages, it makes sense that he would get one in Chinatown. (2) Lovely detail how the cop warned Jack about how “triads” might try to use incidents like this to make Jack’s life miserable, and then he did the same thing himself. Like I said, a real piece of work. Also the Sun. Ugh.

        • catherine says:

          Yes, you may well be correct about the cop. But, still, he hasn’t behaved as badly as Layton who knowingly smeared an innocent person.

          • Sezme says:

            Remind me: which innocent person did Layton smear again?

          • catherine says:

            Liberal candidate David Oliver. Layton smeared Oliver to the press and withheld, until after the election, the letter which stated that the allegations were false. Basically smeared an innocent man to hurt the LIberals during the election.

        • Craig Chamberlain says:

          OK, once more, Mr. Tulk — your friends have spent so much $$$ saturating us with so much made up stuff that Canadians will tune them out now. As they should. And don’t forget that this is the culture your friends have created, where Canadians are suppose to simply dismiss “scandals” as being no big deal. If anything is deserving of more attention, especially for honest libertarians, it’s the spending and the civic rights abuses associated with the G8/G20.

  20. nic coivert says:

    Jack may get a happy ending after all.

  21. fritz says:

    One of the unforeseen side-effects of this Tory smear job is that it takes the storyline away from a real Layton gaffe that could have had some traction; his comments on the Bank of Canada.

    Now instead of attacking the NDP over their lack of knowledge on how government really works Harper will spend the day denying his party was the source of the Layton smear.

    As usual with the Tories it’s a ‘good’ short term tactic – smear Layton – but a very bad long term strategy – they get the blame for a smear on Layton; which fits into voters perceptions of a party that smears anyone that gets in it’s way.

  22. Dr.J says:

    From what I got he was there at the rub and tug when the police raided it, this happens many times each year in Toronto as it is a stream of revenue for organized crime. A smear job? I do not think so, as if it Mr.Harper the left would be dancing in the streets with this news. Personally, he only has to answer to his wife and family about it not me but come on folks we all know why he went there and a massage wasn’t the reason!! Ms.Chow trying to spin it as a place that was licensed with the city of Toronto is just a feeble attempt at best. Hey, who knows it might help Jacko’s chances like Ford’s past behaviour helped him. I wouldn’t vote for Jack anyways because I do not want to pay more taxes and pay more for gasoline, not because of this behaviour, I just like my money in my pocket over the governments, that’s my idealogy. I am more surprised by the Star endorsing the NDP over the Liberals which we all know is their normal favourite party.

  23. Bill Stewart says:

    The most telling thing is that you don’t seem to condemn the smear neither as a political strategy nor as “journalism” in themselves. You only seem to suggest that the only impropriety here is that it could be costly should one the party behind this be found out.

    Personally this has Rob Ford’s fingerprints all over it, only because of who first shovelled this crap into the public domain (the Sun), but I also don’t think it’s beneath the LPC (i.e. when the Star decided to smear Giambrone).

    There was no occurrence report filed, there is no basis for suggesting anything untoward was going on, and this happened 15 years ago. How is this kind of disdain for the truth and for the electorate helpful.

    Scrutinizing the NDP platform or asking policy questions, in the service of democracy. Completely desperate and baseless character assassinations, disdainful and shameful.

  24. Handsome Johnny says:

    Was the story earlier in the week involving cpc and sun media a set up for this to distance the two?

  25. Apparently SUN TV forgot that Canada has sucky sex scandals. It’s a smear and voters will see through it.

  26. Craig Chamberlain says:

    Get as far as you can from this story.

  27. Philip says:

    I find instructive to see which of the regulars think that the hatchet job is an actual news story.

  28. Nikki Sharpe says:

    Many if not most women who work in massage, parlours are exploited, coerced and forced into it through intimidation, violence and financial exploitation. Those of you who think going to one is a bit of innocent slap and tickle are talking out of your asses and if you go to them you’re contributing to organized crime and slavery. Shame on Mr. Layton.

    I’m NDP and will support my local candidate, but I have lost a tremendous amount of respect for Jack.

    http://greenparty.ca/node/836

    http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/sexslaves.html

    http://www.amazon.ca/Invisible-Chains-Canadas-Underground-Trafficking/dp/067006453X

    http://reviewcanada.ca/reviews/2010/12/01/sex-slaves-in-canada/

    • JS Rothwell says:

      It was 1996. People can learn and change Nikki. You’re chastising is about 16 years late.

    • Ian says:

      Nikki, your unforgiving attitude and penchant for guilt-by-association is just the sort of thing that turns many people off the NDP, and I say this as an NDPer.

  29. scanner says:

    If anybody NEEDS a full body massage followed by happy release, it’s PMSH, Gord. He sometimes looks like he has not had happy release for a looooong time.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CNtcvgkHDE

  30. scanner says:

    Oh, and Gord? Leaving Top Secret papers at the girl friend’s place for weeks? Not knowing where you left them? At the biker babe’s apt? When she’s still pals with the bikers?

  31. Gordon Cogger says:

    This campaign has shown what happens to an opposition leader in Canada…character assassination by experts. Iggy and Layton have paid the price. What a shameful charade Canadian democracy has become.

  32. Michael says:

    Never get caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl.

  33. bill from toronto says:

    Two thoughts:

    1. Oh the irony! An unnamed, retired police officer is now the stool pigeon.

    2. To me it is obvious which political party is responsible. I am not about to libel a candidate but asked yourself which party has the easiest access to this type of information and you’ll come to a quick conclusion.

  34. W.B. says:

    We know from the Muttart Iggy photo story how close the CPC is to Sun.
    Reminds you of the Dion botched interview story last time with Mike Duffy etc.
    The Fantino/Ford possible links sound interesting.
    Finally, the NDP can turn it to the change Ottawa theme and it takes the focus OFF the platform.

  35. Bill M. says:

    If Sun went with it, my guess is I think I know the party behind it.

    Who cares? I voted LPC but Jack should rename the last couple days of the campaign “Happy Endings”, just to rub it in, so to speak!

    • Philip says:

      LOL! I think Layton should immediately issue a “Letter to Penthouse” style press release about the story. Bonus points awarded for using the words: “throbbing” and “man root” in the same sentence.

      • Jack Kerouac says:

        THat would be awesome. Maybe he could put a part in where the girl who was forced to give him a handjob was exploited financially and physically too! Maybe a part where it explains that massage parlour sex workers are little more than slaves. That would be awesome! Jackass.

        • Philip says:

          I guess i missed the sentence, in the Sun article, where it was written that JL engaged the services of a prostitute. But hey, keep making assumptions if it makes you feel any better. I’ll stick with the funny.

        • Namesake says:

          or where it said they were financially exploited.

          ‘cuz a (different?) cop in an, er, companion piece that also ran last night describing that particular facility notes, “it was a lucrative business, the girls were pulling in $600 to $700 for a couple hours work.”

  36. fritz says:

    This is a smear and is no more a story than Harper’s ‘personal’ problems. Neither belongs in the media.

    That being said I’m pleased the Tory propaganda arm went with the story as it will garner the CPC no new votes and pushes thousands of undecideds away from the party of sleaze and into the arms of the surging NDP or the Liberals; if the Dippers are a bridge too far.

  37. RN200 says:

    If there is no happy ending it will mean all you lefties had premature Jack elation.
    (h/t some other guy)

    • JS Rothwell says:

      was the some other guy the line manager that emailed you that comment? Night shift at the Little Shop of Tories must be getting nervous then.

  38. Randy says:

    This kind of attempted smear just won’t resonate with people. I personally am tired of all the meanness in politics. I realize that all parties do this kind of thing, and I’d be equally as pissed if they did this to Mr Harper or Mr Ignatieff (and I know there are examples out there, where this has happened).

    If you read the whole Layton story, it’s obviously a case of being naive and at the wrong place. We’ve all been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a dirty world out there, not always as clean as we think it is. The important point is that he told his wife about the incident immediately, so Ms Chow knew about it right away, and she stands beside him equivocally. There have been no denials that he was there, he owned up to being there right away. Does this sound like the actions of someone who is guilty? Of course not. Funny that it gets brought up a couple days before election day. It reeks of desperation. People aren’t attracted to desperation, they repel it. If anything, it will have a negative impact on the other parties, and only give more support to the NDP, because average Canadians certainly aren’t stupid.

    I’ve sure as hell never been a member of the NDP, god knows their economic policy (what policy?) scares the crap out of me, but guess what? That’s where my vote is being parked on Monday. CPC and Libs, you’ve lost people like me (average Canadians), because you don’t care about me… you only care about my vote. It’s time you re-connected with ordinary, average people. You don’t represent us anymore, and you’ve lost us.

    • Randy says:

      He told his wife that day about it, it seems. Who are these people going to “blackmail”, as you’ve mentioned in other comments? She already knew about it, that’s not how blackmail works.
      I have been to a bar that got raided by police. They had illegal activities going on behind the scenes… Did I know about it ahead of time? Of course not. Is there any reason to think I am involved? Of course not. Wrong place, wrong time. It’s pretty simple. This happened what, 15 or 16 years ago? Did you not make dumb decisions 16 years ago, that you wouldn’t make today? Of course. Making dumb mistakes doesn’t disqualify him from being a candidate for PM… Repeating them does.

      • Patrick Hamilton says:

        I didnt know celibacy was a requirement to be PM…unless of course youre Jason Kenney……

      • Bluster all you want, Gord. On Monday night your Mister Angry will be kicking a lot of furniture, to say nothing of the CPC war room genius who came up with this brilliant nonsense.

    • Namesake says:

      “disqualifies JL as a candidate for pm”?!

      This isn’t the U.S.A.; there are no elections OR candidates for Prime Ministers, here, as there are for Presidents there. Do us all a favour, and just move there, already, instead of trying to make our country over in its image.

    • James Bow says:

      You’re making assumptions. No proof has been offered that this place was a brothel. No proof, even, that subsequent arrests were made. Very little actual evidence has been presented here of wrongdoing, and Layton was never charged with anything.

      if this was a recent event, it would be news. If an actual arrest was made, it would be news. If it was a sign of marital problems, it might be news. Instead, this happened in 1996, no arrests were made, and his wife has no problem with it. It’s not news. Except for the fact that it was released as sensationally as possible, as salaciously as possible, in the most calculated way possible to influence the campaign. I’m sick of the dirty politics in this country, and this event made me want a Layton majority government.

      If there is a crime here, it might be this: by all accounts, Layton cooperated with police, answered questions, and was allowed to go on his way. He was never charged. Doesn’t it violate some sort of confidence to release the names of the participants of an investigation if they weren’t charged with anything? If so, shouldn’t there be consequences for the unnamed retired police officer who supposedly leaked this information?

  39. dave says:

    Last night I looked at Sun TV just as they were reporting this ‘breaking news.’
    I remembered immediately that a couple of days ago that the Sun Tv had proved, it had ‘proved’ that it had no connection with the Conservative Party planning group. And I remembered that the Conservative Party had cut its ties with a fellow who had done a nasty, dishonest thing.
    So, I knew that the Sun TV journalists, with dour face and serious adult voice, were oozing integrity and parisan free independence as they broke this news.

    Meanwhile, I figured that one of the parties, Conservatives or Liberals, maybe both, would come up with a big big announcement this weekend to sink the NDP. I guess we will have to go with this ‘Man goes for a massage’ story until the real news shows up.

    I love the Conservatives on here with the “Yabut-if-Stevie-did-it’ whinge.
    In early 1990’s I knew we NDP were in trouble in Western Canada when I noticed that the Reform Party had stolen our self righteousness. But who would have thunk that that self righeousness would become so whiney.

  40. JS Rothwell says:

    Chill out Gord, the rest of us are more laid back than you. Noone cares really, it’s the weekend and Im not at work.

    Decision’s already made.

  41. Greg says:

    Is it my imagination or do the cops always seem to bust these places during or just before, city budget time?

  42. hitfan says:

    Berlusconi in Italy has had much much worse sex scandals than this, and he became more popular than ever as a result.

    Yeah, this thing is embarrassing for Jack Layton, but this might help him.

    Call me crazy, but I think it’s possible that Jack himself leaked this info to the media himself in order to get some sympathy votes.

  43. Gord, here we go again…..if this story was about Harper instead of Layton you would be foaming at the mouth, demanding retractions and screaming “Smear”. Are there not more important issues still to be addressed in these final hours of the campaign?

  44. Lily says:

    Hey Warren, I think I know who planted the story. You’ve probably got more than a good idea yourself.

  45. Jay Imbeau says:

    RE: Harper Tories Selective in Their Outrage – By Warren Kinsella (and the advice to re-read Animal Farm)

    Did anyone note the uproar coming from the last Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner; or that at the end of the hearty cheering and applause something seemed to melt and change?

    Something happened to the faces of partiers and hangers-on, so that when looking from MP to crony, hack to toady, “man to pig, and from pig to man again… it was impossible to say which was which.”

    Yours,

    Jay

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