Layton Visits Flooded Richelieu

The locals are glad to have the NDP leader drop by the flood zone, but are still smarting from the prime minister's apparent ambivalence.

Opposition Leader Jack Layton is headed to the flooded Richelieu region of Quebec after local authorities criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for visiting disaster zones in Alberta and Manitoba but not their area. Rain over the weekend made the Richelieu River rise once again, nearing the record levels it set earlier this month. Flooding has inundated the region for six weeks, forcing 1,000 to evacuate their homes and damaging hundreds of buildings near the river, which flows from Lake Champlain in Vermont to the St. Lawrence River. Layton and a team of his MPs from Quebec are to tour the region today after the mayor of one of the affected towns slammed the prime minister for ignoring their plight.