Editing Jack Layton (section)

===2008 campaign===
[[File:Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton at Toronto Rally.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ed Broadbent]] and Layton at a 2008 election rally in Toronto]]
[[File:Toronto Pride - 2008 - IMG 3473 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Layton with [[Olivia Chow]] at the [[Pride Toronto|2008 Toronto Pride parade]]]]

Layton started off the [[2008 Canadian federal election|2008 federal election campaign]] with a speech similar to that of US presidential nominee [[Barack Obama]]. Layton denied he was trying to draw comparisons with Obama, saying "I mean, I am a lot shorter than he is. He is a brilliant orator. I'm never going to claim to be that. But what I have noticed is that the key issues faced by the [[American middle class]], the [[Working class|working people]] of the U.S. and their concerns about their families' futures, are awfully similar to the issues that I hear in Canada." Layton said that he has also written to Obama and [[Hillary Clinton]] saying that the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] had hurt working people in both countries "and those stories have to be told."

Layton, along with Prime Minister Harper and Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, initially opposed the inclusion of [[Green Party of Canada|Green Party]] leader [[Elizabeth May]] in the leaders' televised debates.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/greens-can-t-participate-in-leaders-debates-networks-rule-1.757797 |title=Greens can't participate in leaders debates, networks rule|publisher=CBC |location=Canada |date=September 8, 2008|access-date=March 12, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-may-green-party-1.3716899|title=Elizabeth May torpedoes the Green Party... again |work=National Post|access-date=June 5, 2010}}</ref> Layton initially said that he was following the rules of the broadcast consortium, while NDP spokesman [[Brad Lavigne]] confirmed that Layton had refused to attend if May was present, noting that May had endorsed Liberal leader [[Stéphane Dion]] for prime minister, and arguing that her inclusion would in effect give the Liberals two representatives at the debate. Rod Love, former chief of staff to [[Ralph Klein]], suggested that the Greens could potentially cut into the NDP's support.<ref>{{cite news|author=Canada |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080908.welxnpanelmay0908/BNStory/Front |title=A debate without the Greens |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |date=September 8, 2008 |access-date=June 5, 2010 |location=Toronto|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116030518/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080908.welxnpanelmay0908/BNStory/Front |archive-date=January 16, 2009 }}</ref> Layton's stance drew criticism from the [[World YWCA|YWCA]],<ref>"[https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/04/04/Who-Is-Afraid-Of-Elizabeth-May/ "Who's Afraid of Elizabeth May?" YWCA Canada calls for a woman's voice in election debate]", YWCA press release, September 9, 2008. {{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> [[Judy Rebick]], and members of his own party.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080910.welxndebate11/front/Front/Front/ |title=May gets green light with a push from the people|work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |access-date=March 12, 2014 |location=Toronto}}</ref> Layton dropped his opposition to May's inclusion on September 10, 2008. "This whole issue of debating about the debate has become a distraction to the real debate that needs to happen", Layton said. "I have only one condition for this debate and that is that the prime minister is there."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/features/decisioncanada/story.html?id=ebe130c8-751e-478c-a911-4f8c537f12f1|title=May says democracy wins as Green leader lands debate slot|publisher=Canada.com|date=September 10, 2008|access-date=June 5, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208075920/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/features/decisioncanada/story.html?id=ebe130c8-751e-478c-a911-4f8c537f12f1|archive-date=December 8, 2008}}</ref>

In October 2008, Layton posted an online video message speaking out in favour of [[net neutrality]], [[peer-to-peer|torrent]] sites, [[Video hosting service|video-sharing]] sites, and [[Social networking service|social-networking]] sites.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgJuzfoNAkg| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505081831/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgJuzfoNAkg| archive-date=May 5, 2010 | url-status=dead|title=Message to P2PNET readers|work=YouTube|date=April 12, 2009|access-date=June 5, 2010}}</ref> In a separate interview he said that increasing corporate control "is very, very dangerous and we have put the whole issue of net neutrality right into the heart of our campaign platform", and that the Internet is "a public tool for exchanging ideas and I particularly want to say that if we don't fight to preserve it, we could lose it." In the end, the NDP gained 8 new seats, taking its tally to 37. This result still left the NDP as Canada's fourth party, behind the Bloc Québécois with 50. The NDP managed to retain [[Outremont (electoral district)|Outremont]], held by [[Tom Mulcair]], its only seat in the province.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-bets-the-house-wins-another-minority/article1063836/ |title=Harper bets the House, wins another minority|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|location=Toronto|date=October 15, 2008|access-date=March 12, 2014 |first=Campbell |last=Clark }}</ref>