Angry in the Great White North

I've noted that it would appear that NDP leader Jack Layton and Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama are telling a very similar story:

Well, this has some people talking (here and here, and probably elsewhere), wondering where the story actually came from, and if there really are two separate accounts, so similar.  And if so, what a coincidence that these politicians, who have some contact and share so much politically, would both be telling their version of the stories. 

Or is it just one story being recycled?  Last time I checked, political speeches are not considered a major source of pollution, so recycling isn't required.

Here is the full and unedited response given by Jack Layton when asked about the similarities between these two stories:

That story about Kenora I first got to tell with the workers themselves right in front of that Abitibi plant which is right in the heart of Kenora. This was when we were doing our softwood sell-out tour and showing how the softwood lumber deal was really failing.

There were beefy steelworkers and paper workers and the office workers were there and these guys were in tears because they had the well-paid jobs, hundreds of them, and they were the ones that would donate to the hockey team and they were saying to me we were the ones who used to give to the local charities and the church and they said our folks are having to pick up and move, their houses are worth nothing, they can't even leave and I have been to so many places like this and I have told these stories so many times. I must admit I was struck by the similarities because I went down to that convention and of course you may recall I wrote to Senator Obama and Senator Clinton when this issue of trade relationships came up and I said, you know, the trade deal is not working for the middle class of your country or ours and those stories have got to be told and we've got to find a way to reach across that border...

It just became clearer and clearer to me, including the big speech at the convention, that we share a lot of these kinds of problems and we have a (something) to perhaps how these issues can be addressed.

Jack Layton wrote to Barack Obama and said "those stories have got to be told".

That's interesting.

So is Jack Layton saying he told the story to Barack Obama, and that Barack Obama switched it from Kenora to Indiana, and is recounting the story as if it was his own?

I'm not sure.

I'm not at all sure what Jack Layton is saying.

Welcome to Canada: Hi to everyone visiting from Hot Air!  Guess what?  We're having an election too!

Because I know we're all thinking it:  For a moment I thought I had a video of Hillary Clinton telling the same story yet again!  But then it I realized it was significantly different, what with her being under sniper fire as she ran into the mill to talk to the workers.