Layton to Copps: Run as an Independent - CBC News

[Screaming Lord Byron]

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/09/canada/layton_copps040309

OTTAWA - NDP Leader Jack Layton is hoping Sheila Copps and other Liberal MPs who lose nomination fights leading up the next election will channel their anger into running as Independents.

"If Sheila Copps runs as an Independent, that, of course, opens up the door for all kinds of possibilities in the election in that riding," Layton said Monday.

"We may see it in other places where Liberals have been forced out by the Paul Martin forces. I have a feeling it could shake things up quite dramatically."

Layton has already closed the door to such members of Parliament seeking NDP nominations after losing the Liberal races in their own ridings, saying membership in his party shouldn't be viewed as a "consolation prize."

-This paragraph at the end of the story is tragic.

Political analyst Henry Jacek of McMaster University doubts Copps will choose to run as an Independent.

"I think in her mind, she really has this hope – I think a forlorn hope, but a hope – that some day she'd be able to be the leader of the Liberal party federally," he said. "And she hasn't given up on that hope."

[Spazito]

1. I have never been a fan of Copps even though I vote Liberal...

she irritates me, if you are going to play in the big political playground you better get a thick skin and she seems to whine alot. Being a woman, I am all for women in politics and there are some good ones, I don't see her as one.

She won't go independent though, she is not dumb and that would be a dumb move.

[MrPrax]

2. Pass the Tequila Shelia...

Good riddance...if she was smart, she should have grabbed a patronage appointment when she could have...

I like the version of her in 'snakes and ladders' anyhow...heh

[Screaming Lord Byron]

3. She has managed to piss off both the Liberals and the NDP.

I wonder if the Tories would take her. She could make her inevitable run for the leadership, after all, everybody else has.