In the school year of 2004/05 I took the mandatory Civics course in high school. I was in grade 10. In that course we all took a survey which identified us all to a political party or persuasion. I, without much surprise, was put to into the N.D.P. I knew I was a leftie, so to speak, but was unsure about which party I'd have most in common with. I took part in the mock parliament which the teacher had planned. I, naturally was on the mock NDP team, which the majority of the students identified with. To this day I am pleased to say that out of a class of about 20 students only 1 identified as Conservative. The Liberals got a couple of people. It may have helped that the school in question was in an NDP riding held by Charlie Angus. He is still the MP for the riding of Timmins-James Bay. I did not attempt to run for leadership of the mock party; I do not actually recall what role I ultimately played in the game aside from a memorable radio commercial I produced with the help of Marshall Hope. Sadly the tape with the "radio commercial" on it has long since vanished.
I didn't always agree with Jack, but was always impressed with him. In 2006 Jack stopped supporting Paul Martin's Liberal government which triggered an election. This surprised me and to this day remains an issue for which I still disagree with Jack on. From 2004-06 Jack was de-facto Prime Minister with the influence he had on Martin. In it he and Martin were able to achieve a great deal. A fine partnership which in my opinion ended too soon. Coincidentally, the 2006 election was the last federal election in which I was unable to vote. I was too young by about three weeks which annoyed me for many months throughout 2006. This was the first election in which Stephen Harper won a plurality, and became prime minister. I'm still not quite over that, but I'll leave that for another blog. I'll have plenty of opportunity between now and 2015.
In 2008 there was another federal election. I voted for the Green Party and for a time I considered joining the Green Party. In the end I didn't.
In 2010 I decided to get more involved in politics. It was the same year I moved to Ottawa, which happened to be for the same reason. If Queen Victoria had decided to name Iqaluit or Alert the capital of Canada I would have moved there. I have loved politics for more than half my life and wanted to be in the capital. Here I am. Shortly before I moved to Ottawa I formally joined the NDP. I paid my dues and attended every political event I had the opportunity to go to whether it be NDP or any other party. (To this day the only mainstream party I have not attended an event for is the Conservative Party, odd considering they are the governing party. Poor advertisers perhaps.) In my growing involvement I had the opportunity to meet Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe among others. To meet the leader of my party I'd have to wait longer.
In 2011, as I'm sure we all recall, the Conservative government was found to be in contempt of parliament and was defeated on their budget. I actively campaigned for the local NDP candidate, Paul Dewar, who won re-election by a wide margin. I happened to have a chance meeting with Jack during the campaign shortly after one of my exams in April 2011. During the days of the "orange crush" or "orange wave" it seemed anything was possible, perhaps even government. Our meeting only lasted a minute at the most. The conversation went something like this:
"Hello, my name's Jack."
"....Hi, I'm Wes." I was in shock, star struck I guess you can say. He then asked if I studied, I replied that on occasion I did study. He said "Good, Canada needs its youth to study. You and thousands like you will maintain Canada's status as the greatest country on Earth".
It sounds like something a speechwriter picked and he uttered hundreds or perhaps thousands of times which is entirely possible. To me it was a personal motivation. There was something about Jack that the other leaders didn't have and he finally proved it in the last election. He was authentic.
Election night of 2011 was bittersweet to me. The NDP reached Official Opposition Status, something many did not expect. The Bloc was crushed and the Liberals were decimated. Finally the NDP could be taken seriously on the political scene in large part thanks to Jack. But it wasn't government. In the last weeks of the campaign at last it seemed the NDP and Jack were considered to be a viable option to lead the country.
In July Jack stepped down as leader of the NDP. I was shocked by Jack's appearance and the sound of his voice. He seemed to have aged several decades in only two months. In his final public appearance he maintained a sense of hope and optimism for his future, that of the NDP and for the future of Canada. I did not believe that he would be back after stepping down, but I did not think he would die so suddenly. I was hoping he would overcome cancer a second time, but by the way he looked and sounded I did suspect this was possibly the last we'd see of him. Sadly, it was.
Today I woke up and within moments I read of Jack's death. I was shocked. For several hours I read both his final letter to Canadians and the comments of Canadians around the world grieving the loss of the man -- whether they agreed with him or not. Eventually the shock wore off and it finally hit me that he was really dead. I am still able to count on one hand the number of times a death has made me sad. Jack is now on that list. The weird thing about that is I didn't really know Jack, I met him only once by chance and our meeting was very brief. Nevertheless this sad news has hit me far harder than I expected. I will confess I shed a few tears for him today. Eventually the emotions overtook me and I went into the stairwell of the apartment and openly wept for a few minutes. I've never felt that for someone I never really knew. Even now as I type this I have a few tears in my eyes. I've had distant relatives die for whom I have shed no tears. Jack was something else. Even as an NDP-er I didnt always agree with him. But how can you stay mad at him? He was just so optimistic and hopeful for the future of Canada. You don't have to be an NDP supporter or Canadian to agree with the way he ended his final letter to Canadians:
"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 the best,
Jack layton."
I have a feeling those words will be quoted a lot in the coming weeks and decades ahead. They'll likely go down in Canadian history along with the best quotes made by Canadians. Those are fine words for all people to live by.
Now, as an NDP-er I mourn the loss of a leader and a man I have looked up to for years. As a Canadian I mourn the loss of a man who personified the best of our ideals and helped chart a path for a better world. We'll now go on without Jack to make our vision become a reality. In the months ahead the NDP will choose a new leader, the people of Toronto-Danforth will chose a new MP. Try as we may, we'll never get another Jack.
