Layton camp in damage control over massage parlour allegations
From the Toronto Star
From the Toronto Star
COURTENAY, B.C.—Jack Layton accused his opponents of launching a smear campaign after a report alleged the NDP leader was found naked in a Toronto massage parlour long before he got into federal politics.
“It’s unfortunate to see that smear campaigns are starting in these last few days of the campaign. Absolutely nothing wrong was done,” Layton told reporters at a hastily called scrum outside a high school in Courtenay, B.C., where the NDP was about to hold a rally on Friday evening.
“There was no wrong here, but yet the smears start. You know, this is why a lot of people get turned off politics and don’t even want to get involved. I think it’s very unfortunate.”
The New Democrats have been enjoying a surprising and unprecedented surge in the polls that has them overtaking the Liberals as the most likely party to form the official opposition and the stunning report had campaign officials go into damage control when the news broke as Layton was about to head to the campaign rally.
The report by long-time Toronto Sun court reporter Sam Pazzano — which aired on the newly launched Sun News Network before being published online — relied on an anonymous police source who said that in 1996 he and his partner found Layton lying naked on a bed in a Chinatown massage parlour suspected of being a bawdy house.
The report said the ex-cop recorded the incident in his notebook, which was reviewed and photocopied by the Sun, and that Layton, a Metro Toronto councillor at the time, did not explain why he had no clothes on but said he had not received any sexual services.
The report said Layton was cautioned and let go without being charged.
The campaign quickly released a statement from Olivia Chow, the NDP incumbent in Trinity-Spadina who is married to Layton, which acknowledged her husband was found by police but insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“Sixteen years ago, my husband went for a massage at a massage clinic that is registered with the City of Toronto. He exercises regularly; he was and remains in great shape; and he needed a massage.
“I knew about this appointment, as I always do,” Chow said in her statement. “No one was more surprised than my husband when the police informed him of allegations of potential wrongdoing at this establishment. He told me about the incident after it happened.
“Any insinuation of wrongdoing on the part of my husband is completely and utterly false,” she added.
Chow also noted that eight election campaigns have happened since the incident took place and that it has never been an issue.
The campaign also released a letter that Brian Iler, a Toronto-based lawyer representing the NDP, had sent to Sun News ahead of the report.
“The facts are that Mr. Layton had obtained a massage from a massage therapist, but had no knowledge whatsoever that the therapist’s location may have been used for illicit purposes,” Iler wrote in the letter, which also warned the network against publishing anything that would insinuate wrongdoing.
“He does recall being advised by the police at the time that he did nothing wrong, but that the location was questionable and to be stayed away from. Mr. Layton gave the officer his name and address, and nothing further happened,” Iler added.
Layton said he would keep campaigning with a focus on the positive change he wants to bring to federal politics.
“What we’ll do is we’ll keep pressing ahead with calling for real change in Ottawa, because frankly this is the kind of thing that a lot of people say is wrong in Ottawa politics today, so we’re just going to keep up the campaign right through to the end and call for that change,” said Layton, who did not take any questions and said nothing else as media chased him into the high school where he was holding the rally.
Conservative party officials declined comment Friday night.
“All I can say is it wasn't us,” said one senior Tory insider.
“We have no interest in this and, if anything, this kind of a story benefits the Liberals not us,” said the source.
A Liberal spokesman also declined to comment.
“We have no comment on the allegations, and we do not engage in the politics of personal attack,” said the Liberal spokesman.
With files from Robert Benzie
