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The Madinah Masjid mosque, which is in Jack Layton’s riding, Toronto-Danforth, has had a long and productive relationship with Mr. Layton, the mosque’s founder, Faruk Desai, told me Friday afternoon, when Matthew Kelway, the NDP candidate of the next riding east, Beaches-East York, swung by to press the flesh after afternoon prayers.
“Jack was my city councillor,” Mr. Desai told me, as he showed off a $5-million renovation of the mosque. He said Mr. Layton supported the mosque at its founding, and continues to support it, even after one fateful visit where somebody stole Mr. Layton’s shoes. Mr. Layton had removed the shoes to enter the prayer hall, and when he came out they were gone. “I had to drive him home,” Mr. Desai recalled.
Yesterday a number of parishoners exiting the prayer hall said they planned to vote for the New Democrats. “I love the Jack Layton program,” said Malik Bakhtiar, who is raising four daughters as a single parent after the death of his wife. Mr. Bakhtiar, an unemployed electrical engineer originally from Pakistan, stood outside the mosque, distributing Kellway literature. He said, “I was a Liberal. Then I saw the NDP policy and I changed my mind.”
"These allegations are ridiculous. It's another story, with respect to the Toronto Star, going after me. And that's all I have to say."
—Mayor Rob Ford responds, briefly, to reports that a video shows him allegedly using drugs.
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