That’s Jack Layton with one of our occasional contributors Jason Setnyk. Jason wasn’t available to interview Mr. Layton so I filled in.
I have to tell you, the man is much more fun to interview than some I’ve done. I think if more people could spend time with him one on one he’d get a lot more votes. I want to thank him for taking time out of his schedule for the interview as it’s not everyday a small city independent gets to chat with a Federal Leader (Mr. Layton is our second after interviewing Elizabeth May of the Green Party)
This will be the first part of our interview. I have to decipher my short hand.
CWFN: How did starting in City Council pave your path for Federal Politics? Jack talked about his 20 years in municipal politics and how it became “Crystal Clear” that there needed to be a way for the solutions found locally could get help from the Federal government. He felt that municipalities were hamstrung by the buck being passed back and forth between Federal and Provincial governments. “..Bring Federal politics to the local level…”
I asked this next question as I’ve been opposed to the 3+1 Arena Project here in Cornwall.
CWFN: Why did he fight Skydome? Jack stated he had concerns about the budget escalating “beyond control” which happened and to protect the public’s investment.
In a lighter moment: 
CWFN: Who wins when he and his wife (NDP MP Olivia Chow) disagree politically as they’ve worked together at the City and Federal levels of Government? ” …never had an arguement, she’s figured it out sooner than I do so she gets into position…”
On the Bridge Crisis here in Cornwall and Akwesasne: Jack charged that the Harper government failed to be proactive in preventing the issues the led to the bridge closure. He said how “important it was to engage” when there are issues like this.
End of the first report. More to come. And to spice this up a bit we’ll be asking some of the same questions to local NDP candidate 
Darlene Jalbert.
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