Farewell Le bon Jack

Written By: - Date published: 5:10 pm, August 23rd, 2011 - 6 comments
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“Courage my friends, ’tis never too late to build a better world” was the motto of Jack Layton, leader of Canada’s New Democrat Party, who died of cancer yesterday. His last letter to Canadians ends:

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.

I met Jack Layton with the NDP caucus in 2002 when there were less than twenty of them. Earlier this year he led the NDP from 37 seats to 103 seats in a magnificent campaign. He swept the board in Quebec even though he was not French-speaking, but they called him “le bon Jack.” An inspiring leader, a fighter for rights, a man of peace and of the people. He will be missed. The tributes are here.

6 comments on “Farewell Le bon Jack ”

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  1. Afewknowthetruth 1
    23 August 2011 at 9:00 pm

    The ’empire’ is too strong.

    Anyone who stands up for truth and justice gets ignored/persecuted/assassinated.

    Canada is now in the hands of maniacs who are determined to turn much of the country into a ‘desert’ in order to extract oil from tar sands.

    ’tis never too late to build a better world”

    I’m afraid it is. We could try not destroying what is left of the one we have but even that seems too difficult for most people.

    • Colonial Viper 1.1
      23 August 2011 at 9:11 pm

      Yeah the Alberta provincial government has been buying votes and influence with tax cuts and cronyism funded by tar sand monies.

      Alberta = Petrostate

      • millsy 1.1.1
        23 August 2011 at 9:24 pm

        Extracting oil from the Alberta tar sands, to me, seems horribly inefficent. I think I read somewhere that it would cost 2 barrels of oil to extract one barrel of oil from that tar, or something like that.

        I know Harper and his mob don’t care about the environment, but surely, they should admit that its bad economics to mine the tar sands.

        As for Layton, I think the Canadian left should be proud of his achievements in taking the New Democrats to their position as main opposition, though their challenge is not to let up in his momentum.

    • johnm 1.2
      24 August 2011 at 12:09 am

      Hi AFKTT
      Gaia wants to build a better World without our destructive leviathan. She’ll eliminate most of us with extreme climate change. Homo Selfishness, destructiveness, greediness will survive a shadow of his former self.Millions of years later Gaia’s fecundity will be renewed—but we won’t be participating!

  2. dc_red 2
    24 August 2011 at 5:04 am

    Err, Jack Layton was French-speaking. One of the reasons for his success in Quebec at the last election was his performance in the French-language leaders’ debate. He was born and raised in Montreal.

  3. swordfish 3
    24 August 2011 at 5:16 pm

    Jesus, I had no idea about Layton’s illness. That is a real tragedy. Clearly the most impressive leader the NDP has had in a long time.

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