Don’t let rivals’ attacks sway you, surging Layton urges supporters

<p>BURNABY, B.C. – Jack Layton did his best not to appear distracted Saturday by allegations that he was questioned by police at a massage parlour suspected of providing sexual services 15 years ago.</p> <p>He emphatically denied he’d done anything wrong when visiting the establishment late one evening following a gym work out.</p> <p>”There was no wrongdoing at all,” Layton told a news conference in this Vancouver suburb, the second straight day he faced questions about published and broadcast reports in the Sun Media chain.</p> <p>”I went for a massage at a community clinic, the police advised that it wasn’t the greatest place to be, and I left and I never went back.”</p> <p>Layton has been assuring voters he would run a responsible, scandal-free government and now is fending off what he termed a “smear campaign.”</p> <p>The NDP leader was unable to offer proof his opponents were behind the report, even though many former Conservatives have connections with the fledgling network.</p> <p>”I have no idea how it all came about, but I do know this not the kind of politics Canadians appreciate,” he said.</p> <p>”It’s innuendo, smear politics. I’ve seen this kind of thing before.”</p> <p>He said he and the party would consider legal recourse after the election is over.</p> <p>Conservative spokesman Ryan Sparrow said the party had no idea about the Sun story until it appeared.</p> <p>Sources said the Tory campaign co-chair, Jenni Byrne, sent out a note Friday warning candidates not to touch the story – or tweet about it.</p> <p>The Liberals, who’ve been subjected to attacks in the Quebecor-owned chain, offered a terse “no comment” on the story after it broke late Friday. Leader Michael Ignatieff declined comment Saturday.</p> <p>Sun TV reported Friday that Layton was neither arrested nor charged when he was found in the Toronto Chinatown parlour in 1996.</p> <p>The network attributed the information to notes taken by a police officer at the time.</p> <p>Layton’s wife, MP Olivia Chow, issued a statement saying her husband merely wanted a massage at a registered clinic.</p> <p>”I knew about this appointment, as I always do,” she tweeted.</p> <p>”No one was more surprised than my husband when the police informed him of allegations of potential wrong doing at this establishment. He told me about the incident after it happened.”</p> <p>The circumstances surrounding the report have become the focus of an investigation by Ontario Provincial Police.</p> <p>They were asked by the Toronto force to determine whether notes taken by officers at the time of the raid were the source of the leak, OPP Insp. Dave Ross said Saturday.</p> <p>”Toronto police has requested us to conduct a criminal breach of trust investigation into the disclosure of information in that matter,” Ross said in an interview.</p> <p>The report struck right at the heart of the NDP’s campaign strategy – the credibility of their increasingly popular leader.</p> <p>New Democrat Peter Julian, running for re-election in the riding of Burnaby-New Westminster, said he sensed a change on the doorsteps immediately after the leaders’ debate.</p> <p>Layton’s folksy appeal has been political gold for the party.</p> <p>”The people want someone who cares deeply about people and is passionate for change and is positive,” Julian said before a rally involving about 2,000 NDP supporters.</p> <p>”The timing in this election has been right for people seeing that new tone. People who were turned off by some of the negative aspects of some of the campaigns are actually being turned on in a curious way and saying ‘I’ll go out and vote.'”</p> <p>Layton cautioned supporters in Burnaby not to be deterred by attacks from desperate rivals.</p> <p>He said the old-line parties are directing attacks toward him and his party as polls suggest the New Democrats are a close second to the Conservatives going into the vote.</p>