The sidewalks are glazed with ice and the airwaves are filled with talk of Mahar Arar, the Canadian whose story of deportation by American officials and torture by Syrian has just come fully to light.
The combination works to make the landscape of Parliament Hill seem measurably more hazardous than usual. This is a day for picking one's way carefully, and yet, a little while before Question Period, there's Jack Layton, marching surefooted as ever up the slippery path to work. He pauses outside the Parliament Buildings to check his Blackberry, mocks his two staffersโcommunications director Jamie Heath, and chief of staff Donne Flanaganโwho've grabbed the opportunity for a quick cigarette "I take some pride," says Jack, mirthfully, "in the fact that I was responsible for the first city legislation that made people like you stand outside to smoke" , then he watches as a deadly sheet of ice slides down from the copper roof and smashes right next to them.
If there is some skewed force in the air this particular day, it is not working on behalf of the NDP. Since Layton became leader last January, the party has generated a steady stream of flattering publicityโmembership is up, caucus is united and party spirit is buoyed.
But today, it's as if things had been going too well, and now it's payback time. At the morning staff meeting, Heath, who makes you think of a young and somewhat annoyed Fred Astaire, announced his frustration. But we are not in these stories. We are simply not.
Without a seat in Parliamentโuntil and unless he manages to unseat Liberal Dennis Mills in the Toronto riding of Danforth-RiverdaleโLayton is forced, during Question Period, to act the leader from the opposition lobby. In the middle sits the NDP, allotted an area big enough only for one round, glass-topped table, six burgundy-upholstered chairs, and a computer terminal.
