Jack Layton - The Most Important Man in Canada Today?

Stardate 4808.2

CTV - Layton tight-lipped as he reviews Liberal deal

Jack Layton could be the most important man in Canada at the moment. With the Liberals and Conservatives squared off, Layton's NDP party is behind the Liberals, for now. However, Layton is waiting to decide whether or not he likes the Liberals' new Health Care proposal. His decision should come at 10:45 am MST today. The key here is that if he withdraws his support, there could very easily be a Federal election before the New Year!

My concern is that for a guy who seems pretty wishy-washy on a lot of issues, could this sort of "power" go to his head? Will he put the NDP agenda ahead of the interests of Canada? Or will he continue to back Paul Martin's Liberals... Other party's suggest Layton is not serious at all about forcing a confidence vote (as early as November 15th) and is shouting without saying anything.

For the Liberals, his support is key. They hold 133 seats out of the 308 seat House of Commons, and need the NDP support of 18 seats to stay ahead of the rather strange alliance of the Tories and the Bloc Quebecois. Between them, they hold 152 seat, leaving 4 for independents and one vacant seat.

*** UPDATED ***

Apparently, Jack is "dissapointed" with the proposal, but will spend the weekend doing stuff reviewing it further. I think he is using as much of htis media attention as possible, and in the end, he will continue to back the Liberals, though they may need to tweak their proposal a little...