You Don't Know Jack!

Note: It's not often I write two of these postings in one day, but this one needs to be said.Late Tuesday afternoon, everyone was on pins and needles. I could hardly move through the media rotunda because of the density of the crowd. Everywhere, everyone was asking the same question: "What will Jack Layton do?" And then everyone began answering their own queries with what appeared to be the conventional thinking of at least that day: "He'll bide for time because his party isn't high enough in the polls to risk an election." And then Jack came out, stood in front of the cameras, and blew that reasoning to smithereens.I'm not a sage observer and I'm more often wrong than right, but I had been feeling since I learned of the budget details that this is exactly what the NDP leader would do. Politics is a diabolical sport and Jack has learned to play it, just like the other leaders. But this present version of Parliament has been so bad, so very bad, that he made the calculation that his party's fortunes likely weren't as important as the damage that has been done to the country and Parliament in the last few years. Truthfully, what else should we have expected from someone facing a battle with his own mortality? In a phrase, Jack Layton went against his own best interests and those of his own party.So did Michael Ignatieff. As one journalist stated to me yesterday, "It's rare that you would see in this city two of the political parties opt to enter an election when they're not doing great in the polls." He was right. Both Layton and Ignatieff had a choice to make. The government propelled us into an election specifically with a budget designed to satisfy no one, except for perhaps certain segments of the voting public. It was an election budget in every way, and when they stated they would permit no amendments the ruse was suddenly open for all to see. They wanted the election.Canadians are going to be continually warned of a coalition among the opposition parties and they'll beat this to death in hopes you'll detest both men. Don't. I know both well and I'm frequently in discussion with them. They have not spoken to one another about coalition plans; in fact, they are acting now in ways that are counter-intuitive in a normal political world, risking their own futures on principle. And that's just it: this isn't a normal political climate. Parliament itself, as we witnessed symbolically yesterday when Conservatives went after the Speaker of the House, is under attack and through the very extension of that reality, Canadians themselves are under threat.Both Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff have done the unusual, putting their respective futures on the line at a time when they are vulnerable. The reality that they have chosen to do so at this particular period of time, when the PM holds most of the cards and his party holds most of the money, that speaks more to their character than to their political ambitions. When Jack Layton walked out to that bank of microphones, shocking most of the country with his words, he undertook one of the most patriotic tasks you can ask of anyone. Michael Ignatieff did the same, knowing that their fates are now in your hands because they've had enough of the future of the country being in the hands of a government that replaces "Canada" with "Harper" and the citizens of Canada, through their Parliament, with contempt.Risking an election when you're behind in the polls is hardly done in this town, but Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff just turned that rationale on its head. The issue now isn't whether they will win the bet or not, but whether Parliament itself can be saved and defended. For that, both of these men deserve our appreciation.