Jack Layton, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) died of cancer this morning. He was 61 years old. And I will miss him.
I can’t say that I knew Jack personally, but we met on more than one occasion when I worked in TV for CBC. What struck me most about him was his amazing vitality. The man practically crackled with vigour! And I enjoyed our conversations about the environment and the steps needed to make Canada greener.
He struck me as a no bullshit, straight-up kinda guy. And all the stories that are flooding the internet today seem to underline this fact.
My favourite memory of Jack is from eight years ago. I had just moved to Canada and knew precious little about the state of affairs politically. I was watching Peter Mansbridge on The National and there was a piece about the NDP (possibly because Jack had just been elected its leader). The piece mentioned Jack’s commitment to the environment, and one of the cutaways they used featured him riding his bicycle to work. And I thought, “Now there’s a guy I’d vote for.”
Jack Layton was the first Canadian politician to cross my radar and it made me proud and grateful to be living in this gorgeous country.
The man had charisma, but he also had big ideas. And the energy and commitment to back them up.
My friend Cheryl shared a personal story on my Facebook wall this morning about when she met Jack in person:
He came out to support the creation of a 22km bike path in Vancouver by riding it with us in the pouring rain. That’s commitment: no public to see it, just a few wet public transit activists and Jack.
My heart breaks that we lost him so young. Especially when Canada needs people like him more than ever.
“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”
All my very best,
Jack Layton, 1950-2011
For those of you who are hearing about Jack for the first time, here’s his final letter to the country he loved so much.
Almost 10 years ago, he came out to support the creation of a 22km bike path in Vancouver by riding it with us in the pouring rain. That’s commitment, no public to see it, just a few wet public transit activists and Jack.