PARLIAMENT HILL—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office is denying that he ignored a question about personal memories of Jack Layton during a brief tribute on Monday for “partisan” reasons.

Andrew MacDougall, Mr. Harper’s press secretary, took issue in an email to The Hill Times of its report of how Mr. Harper rolled in his statement about Mr. Layton’s death from cancer early Monday morning with his second expression of condolences for relatives of those killed in an Arctic air crash last Saturday and a lengthy statement about the civil war in Libya and the role played there by members of the Canadian Forces.

Several members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery were surprised Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) declined to answer a question from Toronto Star reporter Tonda McCharles about whether he had any personal memories of Mr. Layton to pass on, and also the fact he included the tribute in a three-in-one appearance, quickly going through all three issues and wrapping up with the recognition of Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, the commander of the NATO air-strike mission against Libyan government forces.

New Democrats were also somewhat surprised, in part given that Mr. Harper approved a state funeral for Mr. Layton, the Official Opposition Leader in the Commons before he stepped aside when his illness worsened. Mr. Layton, who died at the age of 61, led his party into Official Opposition for the first time in its history with a record election of 103 MPs last May.

But Mr. MacDougall chastised a Hill Times reporter for writing that political undercurrents had surfaced in the immediate wake of Mr. Layton’s death, including a political appeal Mr. Layton wrote only two days before he died, with the express wish that it would be released by his wife, NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity Spadina, Ont.) upon his death.

Mr. MacDougall wrote that it was not about Prime Minister Harper. “It was about Mr. Layton. The Prime Minister offered his condolences and shared his regret that he never got to jam with Mr. Layton. What could be less partisan than that?” he said. “And what could be less partisan than offering condolences to the families of the 12 victims of a tragic air crash and our thanks to those who helped to rescue the three survivors?”

Mr. MacDougall continued: “On a day when so many of your colleagues turned out first-rate remembrances, you chose to miss the point in the most spectacular way. It’s sad. And disappointing.”

Although the NDP says Mr. Harper’s office offered on Monday morning a state funeral for Mr. Layton, and the NDP accepted it then, the Prime Minister did not announce at his media event that a state funeral would be held.

Mr. Harper’s communications director, Dimitri Soudas, confirmed the state funeral to some media late Monday night and then emailed the Parliamentary Press gallery on Tuesday afternoon, about 45 minutes before the Canadian Heritage Department made the same announcement and released details.

Mr. Soudas late Tuesday afternoon, after his office failed to respond to questions about Mr. Harper's decision not to respond to the question about Layton or announce the state funeral, accused a <em>Hill Times</em> reporter of attempting to play "wedge politics" with the chain of events, although he did not explain what he meant.

"This office will not engage in your sad attempt to play wedge politics with the death of Mr. Layton. The government and the Prime Minister's Office are entirely at the disposal of Mr. Layton's family during their time of mourning," Mr. Soudas said.

Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) said she was unaware of the arrangements between the government and the NDP.

“I want to thank him for this, he offered that to the family, and they said yes, so we really appreciate the offer, and Mr. Harper did that.”

Mr. Harper delivered a six-sentence tribute to Mr. Layton before, without pausing, he offered his “deepest personal condolences” to the family and friends of 12 people who died when a chartered jet crashed near the runway of the Resolute Bay airport. Mr. Harper issued a statement of condolences the same day, and was flying to Resolute Bay on Tuesday for a previously scheduled tour of annual Canadian military exercises in the Arctic.

“Jack Layton will be remembered for the force of his personality and his dedication to public life,” Mr. Harper said at his media appearance in front of the House of Commons.

“We have all lost an engaging personality in a man of strong principles. Laureen and I join with people across the country in extending our deepest sympathies to Olivia and their family and to all of Jack’s friends and colleagues,” he said.

“Now as you know, Jack was a musician, he was quite a natural one at that, and we always talked about getting together to jam, but it seemed we were both always too busy. I will always regret the jam session that never was. That is a reminder I think that we must always make time for friends family and loved ones while we still can.”

He then said about the Resolute Bay tragedy: “I would also like to express my deepest personal condolences to everyone who lost family or friends at Resolute Bay on Saturday. The thoughts and prayers of all Canadians are with you as you grieve.

“I would especially like to than the local authorities, citizens at Resolute Bay, the personnel of the Canadian armed forces and other agencies and first responders who acted so quickly to help save lives. We are all grateful for their courage, dedication and professionalism.”

Ms. Turmel, at her first news conference since Mr. Layton’s death, dismissed widespread predictions that the NDP might have difficulty holding on to its new Quebec support without Mr. Layton at the helm, and said she will stay on as interim leader until a party convention elects a new leader, likely early next year.

“The party will decide in the next few weeks how we will organize for the next convention to have a new leader, but all together the people that ran as MPs believe in what Jack Layton represented,” Ms. Turmel said. “Quebec people as well as Canadians, people voted for a vision. When I say vision it is the issues that we believe in, a better Canada, a better world where we can live, that you don’t have poverty, that the environment is better and you can have a better pension.

Ms. Turmel said Mr. Layton was the image of the party, but there's more to the NDP. “Jack was the image, we all know that, but we believe, all of us, that why we ran with Jack Layton is that we believe in what he was presenting, so we’ll carry on and defend that," she said.

tnaumetz@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times