The critics are raving (mad) about NDP Leader Jack Layton’s recent comments linking Prime Minister Paul Martin’s cuts to housing programs with the deaths of homeless people.

  • CTV News’ Craig Oliver criticized Layton’s remarks, claiming “He’s wrong, he knows it and he should apologize.”
  • CBC News reported the remarks under the banner “The Campaign Turns Ugly” and, like other media, repeatedly referred to the comments as “a personal attack.”
  • Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said Layton’s comments were “outrageous” and “a bit over the top.”
  • “It was just way over the top,” said Martin spokeswoman Melanie Gruer.
  • Steve MacKinnon, deputy director of the federal Liberals and a Martin campaign spokesman argued that, “Mr. Layton owes an apology to those people who do live in poverty. It cheapens both him and the debate, and Mr. Layton’s credibility has taken another self-inflicted blow.”
  • (Yet another) Liberal campaign spokeswoman Heidi Bonnell said, “We do believe that Mr. Layton’s comments are completely over the top and at what point do you stop using these tactics for an attack at your opponent. I can’t speak directly for Mr. Martin, but the campaign is completely disappointed with these kinds of antics.”
  • Martin himself (who presumably does speak for Mr. Martin) stated “There will be many blows in politics, I guess, and some of them are going to be low. I think that type of statement reflects far more on Mr. Layton than anything else. I think that Mr. Layton is condemned by his statements.”
  • University of Calgary political commentator David Taras indicated that, “to come in and say ‘the prime minister is a murderer’ is just too much. I think it’s unacceptable to most Canadians.”

Yikes! But, what did Jack Layton actually say that caused all of this frothing at the mouth? Speaking beside a memorial to people who have died on the streets, Layton said, “I believe that when Paul (Martin) cancelled affordable housing across this country it produced a dramatic rise in homelessness and death due to homelessness. I’ve always said I hold him responsible for thatâe¦ [Instead of maintaining housing programs, Martin] chose to give that money in tax cuts to his corporate friends, and I will not forgive him for that.”

Forgive me, but where exactly does the word “murderer” appear in that statement? And how is it in any way “personal,” “nasty,” or “over the top” to ask a politician to be accountable for the impact of his policies? If the Liberals and their apologists want to argue that a lack of housing is not responsible for homelessness, or that homeless people are not at greater risk of premature death, let them make that argument. The calls for an apology are a smokescreen from those who would rather not deal with the real issue.

It’s not as if Layton had just pulled his remarks on homelessness out of the air. He knows this issue and wrote the definitive book on the subject. He’s even linked the problem directly to Paul Martin before, with little of the uproar that greeted his comments during this campaign. Last November, at a protest outside the Liberal leadership convention, Layton said, “Affordable housing programs were eliminated by Paul Martin and we have homelessness in the street as a result. And people have died in our streets.” It was true then, it was true on Wednesday, May 26 and it is still true today.

As Layton noted later in that week, “Politicians have to take responsibility for their actionsâe¦ It’s not about Paul Martin as an individual, of course. We’re talking about Paul Martin as a finance minister making a political choice. You can’t just go and take credit for things that you liked in your record.”

Paul Martin certainly sounded as if he understood the importance of housing programs when he was in opposition. In the report of the Liberal Party Task Force on Housing, co-authored by Paul Martin, he wrote “You have to wonder about a society where people are sleeping on sidewalk steam vents while the limousines roll by.” Furthermore, he argued, “the housing crisis is growing at an alarming rate and the government sits there and does nothing; it refuses to apply the urgent measures that are required to reverse this deteriorating situation… the lack of affordable housing contributes to and accelerates the cycle of poverty, which is reprehensible in a society as rich as ours.” He complained that “The federal government has abandoned its responsibilities with regards to housing problems… Leadership must come from one source, and a national vision requires some national direction.”

When Martin became the most powerful minister in the Liberal government, he not only failed to keep his promise to reverse the housing cuts made by Brian Mulroney’s Conservatives, but his 1996 budget completely eliminated federal funding for new affordable housing. It wasn’t until 2000 when the pressure was on (thanks largely to Layton’s leadership at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities) to do something about the results of Martin’s cuts that some money was finally allocated to housing. But, as of December 5, 2003 (the latest records available), only $88.48 million of the $680 million allocated (over five years) had been spent.

Meanwhile, homelessness has increased by an estimated 40 per cent in Toronto alone since 1995. With statistics showing that homeless people are eight times more likely to die than those with housing, it’s hardly surprising that someone would finally make the connection between those deaths and Martin’s policies. What was most surprising to politicians and media observers alike was that it was a politician — a national party leader — who was finally willing to tell the truth about political choices and their consequences.

With Layton at the helm of the NDP, the Liberals have sensed that their free ride on social policy is finally over. They are clearly scared at the prospect of being held accountable. The intensity of their overreaction to Layton’s comments is a symptom of that fear.

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Scott Piatkowski

Scott Piatkowski is a former columnist for rabble.ca. He wrote a weekly column for 13 years that appeared in the Waterloo Chronicle, the Woolwich Observer and ECHO Weekly. He has also written for Straight...