Layton asked to justify 'corruption' charge against Liberals
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 | 11:44 PM ET
CBC News
Layton, who appeared at a CBC Town Hall hosted by Peter Mansbridge, was asked by one participant to justify the Opposition parties constant repetition of the word "corruption" in reference to the Liberals.
"Well, I think what you've seen is scandalous behaviour, and I think everybody's reacted to that," Layton said, referring to the sponsorship scandal and the income trust affair. The RCMP is currently investigating allegations that the decision on tax policy regarding income trusts was leaked prior to its Nov. 23 announcement.
Layton said said that either Finance Minister Ralph Goodale or Martin should have acted proactively and immediately called in the RCMP to investigate.
But Mansbridge pressed Layton on the corruption allegation, asking him if there is any evidence that Martin's government has been corrupt.
"Well, all I know is that there are various charges and processes under way flowing from Justice Gomery," Layton said. "Canadians will have to draw their own conclusion about that. It certainly, I think, is something that concerns a lot of Canadians, and they should be rightly concerned."
Layton repeated what he said earlier in the day, warning the front-running Conservatives that there are certain issues the NDP won't back down from. The issues included health care, the environment same sex marriage rights.
"We're going to use every technique we can to protect public health care," Layton said. "That's fundamental. We're going to do everything we can to protect equality rights that have been secured. We don't want to roll that clock back. We're going to do everything that we can to make sure our international commitment on environment is honoured and respected and delivered."
