Jack Layton, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, is also defending his Parliament seat in the Toronto-Danforth riding.

This week Toronto-Danforth held its one and only all-candidates debate, which had reportedly been planned around Layton's busy schedule — but Layton turned the event into a most-candidates debate by skipping it. (He, uh, forgot he had to be in British Columbia that night.)

So he sent a replacement, fellow NDPer Peter Tabuns, who was thrown out by the audience on account of not being Jack Layton.

As the news anchor says in the clip below, the situation got ugly. This is what "getting ugly" looks like in Canada.

I'll warn you right now: It involves thoughtful remarks and a show of hands…

Sending a sub to your own riding's debate during a critical election? Down here in America, we call that a maverick move.

At least I'll know who to blame if Sarah Palin shows up to debate Barack Obama next week.