Getting in the way of Jack Layton's Olympic face time

Canadian fans, including NDP Leader Jack Layton, centre, react at Wayne Gretzky's Restaurant in Toronto as they watch Canada score their second goal against the U.S. in the Olympic Hockey Final on Sunday. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

Most political keeners watching the scenes of jubilant crowds celebrating Sunday night's gold medal win by Canada in the Olympic men's hockey game might have caught a glimpse Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton conducting a little interference.

With a front-row seat at the bar of Wayne Gretzky's Restaurant in Toronto, Layton just so happened to be dead centre in the CTV camera's shot of the packed house.

But when CTV cut to the live shot from Gretzky's, the NDP leader's national face time was momentarily compromised by an over-exuberant female fan's arm-waving. So, just like every ordinary red-blooded-Joe Lunchpail-Canadian hockey fan would do in the same circumstance, he grabbed her arm and pulled it down.

Due to IOC restrictions, we can't post the footage online.

Layton's arm-grab wasn't violent or anything, but it sure was noticeable and not something I'd ever do in a bar, out of fear of getting punched in the face.

In an email, Layton's press secretary, Karl Belanger, doesn't buy that his boss was seeking the golden limelight. Insteand, Belangers insists Layton was only trying to see the TV, not be seen on TV.

"The TV screen was up there, he moved her arm to be able to see," Belanger writes. "That's all."

He added the woman was "just someone who was friendly and happened to sit with" Layton and wife -- NDP MP Olivia Chow -- throughout the game, and clearly wasn't upset by Layton's move.

"They shared a great Canadian moment and enjoyed a few beers together," he writes. "End of the non-story."