Ye Olde Ideas

The Globe dismisses the faithful’s efforts.

Jack Layton says he is offering Canadians a new way of thinking. But the policies approved at the NDP conference in Halifax this weekend are not new to New Democrats.

The more than 1,000 delegates endorsed action to prevent violence against aboriginal women. They endorsed enshrining childcare into law. They endorsed investment in environmentally friendly jobs. They endorsed ending rules that prevent homosexuals from donating organs. In the end, there were more than 50 policies approved. But there was little to raise the eyebrows of the party’s socialist founders.