I would say, first off, that I have difficulty with Mr. Layton's statements. The point is, I don't understand them, I can't make any sense of them, and I don't know how he would effect what he's talking about. On leaving the country immediately, or by February or some time, I don't understand the mechanics of how that would work.
When I note that other people have referred to Canada's policy of the former government, and Mr. Martin's government, and this government as simply being a reaction to please Americans, and so on, I think it is disingenuous, to say the least. Canadians make their own policies. They have a Parliament and they vote for people. If the Canadian people don't like the policies of the government, then they will remove them.
I think we can talk about the links among defence policy, trade policy, immigration policy, our relations with other countries, and how that affects our relationship with the United States, but that doesn't make us beholden to the United States. We're not in Afghanistan, in Cypress, in the Middle East, in the Atlantic, in NATO, or in Bosnia because of what Americans think. We're there because of what we think. I think it's important that leaders make sure people understand those relationships.