Jack Layton's blinders (and our media's)

Jumpin' Jack is trying--fraudulently--to convince Canadians that the NDP has much in common with the victorious Australian Labour Party.

NDP Leader Jack Layton is rushing today to align himself with newly elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, promising an NDP platform in the next federal election that will closely follow the Aussie Labor leader's moderate formula...

But, as Norman Spector points out, this is "What any reporter covering Jack today should read" (so should Mr Layton):

...Labor Leader Kevin Rudd, only 11 months on the job, moved his party into the political centre, insisted he was an "economic conservative," and promised tax cuts and spending on health and education. With his cherubic face and carefully tailored suits, Mr. Rudd offered a reassuring persona to accompany his moderate policies...

They all should read this too:

...in another area of combat, Afghanistan, there have been suggestions that the new Australian government might even increase the numbers of its troops there from the current level of about 1,000.

Australian special forces are in a frontline role and a commando was killed on the eve of the election, the third Australian death in recent weeks.

Many Western governments have drawn a distinction between sending troops to Afghanistan and sending them to or keeping them in Iraq. They regard Afghanistan as an allied operation with a clear objective - to prevent the Taleban from returning to power in a country where it allowed al-Qaeda the freedom to plan its attacks...

More:

FACTBOX: Key policy themes for Australia's Labor

...keep and possibly increase troop numbers in Afghanistan...

So far I haven't seen that mentioned in any Canadian news stories or commentary (including Jeffrey Simpson's piece quoted second in this post) on the election. Odd, given the importance of the Afghanistan issue in our politics. Deliberate omission or simple ignorance?

Mark C.

Posted by markc at November 27, 2007 09:12 AM