Goodbye To Canada's Champion For Social Justice

I’ve been meaning to write a post about Jack Layton for a few days now, but I’m finding it hard to come up with anything meaningful without revealing my political practices and affiliations for all the internet to see. Let me just say that when I came in to work Monday morning and my coworker casually mentioned that he had passed away, my first reaction was "haha very funny". Then I realized she wasn’t joking. I was shocked, in disbelief, and immediately scurried online to see if it was true. Honestly, I felt somewhat betrayed by fate, that right when the NDP was poised to make some great changes to the arena, its champion was taken away so suddenly. It wasn’t fair that Layton would never be able to take his party to the heights he had dreamed and worked so hard for. But the nation-wide outpouring of grief and condolences showed me I wasn’t alone in feeling so bad, and then when his letter was released, so full of optimism and hope, it felt good knowing that even in the end, Layton reached out to the country and encouraged everyone to make his legacy come true.


I don’t know if the NDP will falter now without it’s charismatic leader. But I’ll be going to the state funeral on Saturday with a bottle of Orange Crush. I’ll be remembering the one time I met Jack Layton, a few years ago at Earth Hour. He was just part of the crowd at Yonge-Dundas Square, enjoying the atmosphere like any other citizen, while graciously taking the time to speak with anyone who approached him. We briefly chatted about Earth Hour and how we hoped it would be a success that year, and then he was off to a couple who wanted a photo with him.

Seems like only yesterday I was ROTFLing over Layton using the words "hashtag" and "bling-bling" during the national debate. He will be sorely missed.