Jack Was Never In The Box

Michael Ignatieff toured through London yesterday, providing me some good discussions with a number of friends from the national media touring with him through this final leg of the 2011 campaign. A couple commented on how the Liberal leader had shown grace and poise in these last difficult days. "He's really connected with average Canadians," one of them noted, before going on to state that it's unfortunate that he couldn't have shaken the hands of over 30 million Canadians in a short five-week campaign. "There just wasn't enough time," he concluded.Milling among them, I was repeatedly asked if I had any light to shed on the NDP surge. Before I could answer, they first offered their own observations, ranging from, "Layton connects well with people," to, "People are just tired of the two main parties." I informed them that I thought that while these things might well prove true, the key reason for the NDP leader's climb in the polls was possibly more straightforward: "He didn't have over two years of negative advertising, costing millions of dollars, thrown at the public each and every day by the Conservatives."It's a point worth considering. Michael Ignatieff could never escape the relentless barrage of personal and insulting rhetoric broadcast throughout Canada. The Harper government had learned well from their neighbours to the south and the "Swift Boat" ads that had been used so effectively by George W. Bush against his Democratic opponent. As one Republic ad man mused at the time, you can actually make people's minds up for them so that they never get the chance to openly and objectively judge a political leader. Again, it's not so much the negative ads that are the problem but their consistent use between election campaigns. The Conservatives could afford them and opted to pre-determine the assessment of Ignatieff by Canadians in general. It's a lesson in human nature that has now been turned into an art form in Canada. This kind of dark propaganda has introduced a new low into Canadian politics.Which I think helps to define Layton's rise in the polls. Is he a good man? Absolutely. Does he care for people? For sure. A good leader for his party? Yup. His rise in popularity comes in part because Canadians have been permitted to judge him with a collective open mind - something that should come standard with any political campaign. I bet you the Conservative Machiavellian types in their war room now wish they had spent millions passing their untruths on to the Canadian people about the NDP leader. But it's too late; they, like the rest of us, didn't see it coming. They are now scrambling, realizing that they're not so smart after all.Jack Layton has been afforded the ability to run his own campaign without the barrage of ammunition from the government arrayed against him. He was fortunate early in the campaign to have avoided much of the scrutiny that had fallen on the other leaders, but more than that he was able to face Canadians directly without having to confront an electorate that had not already decided against him because of negative advertising. As the campaign commenced, Jack Layton and his platform were barely considered. He was seen as some kind of tragic heroic leader, fighting off a debilitating disease as he threw himself once more into the breach. Well, we now see that he was more than that simply because he was permitted to be.Both Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff are good leaders of their respective parties. I know them both and respect them for their distinct abilities. But the Liberal leader had to carry a massive burden as the election started. While Layton carried his own physical challenge into the campaign, Ignatieff had to deal with all the false rumours that had been spread through Canada in prime time for over two years. Jack Layton has been free to put himself forward to the Canadian people without pre-bias, as is only proper. Ignatieff had to carry the baggage of the Conservative black-ops rolling out relentlessly for two years prior to the campaign. Layton's rise shows you what could still happen in a Canada that is fair and tolerant. However, it was an accident; if the Conservatives had seen it coming, they would have attempted to bury him with lies and innuendo.I'm glad for Jack, to be truthful, because every leader deserves a fair shot at power. His rather obscure rating at the beginning of the campaign has now provided him with an open field to display his skills - he was never placed in a box. Every party leader should have been afforded that opportunity, and in Canada that used to be a given. Jack deserves his freedom; Ignatieff should have had that right too. Regardless of the this election's outcome, the best thing that could happen wouldn't just be an opposition win as it would be a sending of the Republican strategists back across the border and a Conservative government humbled by the Canadian people for its deeply devious way of treating its citizens. Jack Layton should never have to endure what Michael Ignatieff has been through. Fortunately he hasn't and should be permitted his moment in the sun. But for Ignatieff, he was never able to emerge from under the dark cloud that Conservatives placed above him. Perhaps, in the few hours that remain, that great Canadian characteristic of openness and fair-mindedness will be afforded him at last. Canada is well worth that fair and second look.