Remembering Jack Layton: One Year Later

I was sorry I couldn't make it to this tribute to Jack Layton.

And that I didn't get a chance to scrawl a message on that huge wall at City Hall as I did a year ago.

But I was happy to see that somebody wrote what I probably would have written:

Jack Layton and the Little Tree

Well I see that although we only just said goodbye to Jack Layton, our classy media is already beating their tin drum over who will replace him.

And so are quite a few Liberal bloggers. Which seems rather crass, considering the timing, and considering their own problems.

You know...I love my Liberal friends. Although I don't have as many of them as I once did, because most of them joined the NDP in the last three days. I know that all of my friends share my vision of a better Canada, whether they wear red or orange. 

But like our tired media so many Liberals are obsessed with the grubby mechanics of power. Who gets to be da boss, who gets to ride in a limo, who gets to stick their snouts in the trough.

While the Jack Nation is building a powerful new movement...

A movement that will unite the left, and drive the filthy Cons from power, by appealing to idealism of the young and the noblest instincts of all Canadians, who are sick to death of old and tired politics.

The nostalgic dinosaurs of the Big Small Red Machine may not understand that yet, but you can be sure the Cons do and they are AFRAID. Quaking in their boots. Or going up and down like yoyo's. 

It will probably be a while before a Canadian prime minister again offers a state funeral to someone on the left.

With the Conservatives’ new hammerlock on power — accomplished with a mere 40 per cent of the national vote — here at least was one joyous moment in which we could watch the country’s most powerful orator confront a prime minister who had no choice but to stand every time the rest of the room rose in rapturous pleasure at Lewis’s inspiring call for a more equal and generous Canada.

There will come a time when I write about the NDP leadership race. But right now all I can think about is the wonderful news that they're going to scatter some of Jack Layton's ashes on my beloved Toronto Islands.

Jack's ashes will also be scattered on the Toronto Islands, where Layton married his wife MP Olivia Chow in 1988.

A memorial tree will also be planted at the site on the islands.

Because that little community loves the NDP more than any other ...

(Click pic to enlarge)

And I absolutely love the idea of planting a little tree to remember him.

Like this one near the ferry dock...

So on an icy cold day I can wrap it in a blanket, or hurry over with a watering can on a hot one. Or ring my bicycle bell as I ride by it, like we did at Jack's funeral.

And of course guard it with my life eh?

Oh little tree of hope. May you grow like our beautiful movement.

Until you touch the stars...

Saying Goodbye to Jack: The Video

I almost missed Jack's funeral. But luckily I didn't because it was a true gathering of the clan... or the Jack Nation.

And though it was of course a sad occasion because he was taken too young. It was also a chance to celebrate his life. And we sure did.

I wish I could say more, but I'm too tired. And besides somebody told me the other day that I write too much.

So here's a little video I made to give you an idea of what it was like to be there...



When it was over I was lifted by all that love, but I also felt sad and empty because now I know he's really gone. And beyond everything else it's such a horrible tragedy. Why Jack? Why now? How could this happen when we needed hope so badly?

But I'll never forget what Stephen Lewis said.

To hear so many Canadians speak so open-heartedly of love, to see young and old take chalk in hand to write without embarrassment of hope, or hang banners from overpasses to express their grief and loss. It's astonishing.

Inevitably, we fastened on those last memorable lines about hope, optimism and love. But the letter was, at its heart, a manifesto for social democracy.

Just like I'll never forget what his son said about how the best dreams are those that are bigger than your life.

And Stephen Page's magnificent Hallelujah.

Hallelujah for Jack Layton. For bringing hope to Canada like rain to a desert.

Will this recovered hope shrivel away in the light of day? Maybe.

But tonight the CN Tower is glowing orange. Everything seems possible.

Jack Layton is gone forever.

But his spirit marches on...

Hanging Out With the Jack Nation: My Video

I wasn't able to pay my last respects to Jack Layton today. When I went on my lunch break the line was just too long.

But I did spend some time with the Jack Nation at City Hall, and once again it was an awesome sight.

If only he could have seen it. Watching the memorial to Jack Layton unfold at City Hall on Friday, it was hard not to think, “God, he would have loved this.”

Not just because hundreds upon hundreds of people came to praise him, but because they came pledging to carry on his crusade of caring and hope.

Outside in the square, what can only be described as a happening was under way. Scores of people milled around, reading the messages scrawled in coloured chalk on the paving stones, writing messages themselves, taking pictures of the impromptu shrine piled with flowers. The city has never seen anything quite like it.

Because if Marcus Gee was moved, you can imagine how I felt eh?

I understand that some right-wingers, like the pathetic nerd Ezra Levant, have been acting like pigs. Again.

But who really cares? They are what they are, they don't understand what's happening, and they are AFRAID.

While our people are gathering strength from tragedy, preparing to answer his call to change the world. And they should be the ones we are writing about.

I have written quite a bit about what has been happening since Jack died. About how he gave us hope and a mighty new weapon.

And no doubt I will write more about what I think it all means in the next few days.

But I leave you with a little video I put together with some pictures I took today, and some video Seb shot for me on his lunch break.

It's a little rough, because it was noisy in the square, but I think it says all I want to say tonight...



We ARE so much better than them.

Jack gave us hope where once we had none.

Canada has never seen anything like it.

And the writing is on the wall...

The Jack Nation and the Promised Land

I found the sight of Jack Layton leaving the House of Commons for the last time incredibly moving.

The cannons blasting, the people clapping, the bells playing "Imagine."

And when the funeral cortege crossed the bridge into Quebec, so Jack could say a last goodbye to Quebecers, I had to turn my head away so my co-workers wouldn't think I cry easily.

But then tonight I saw this.

And my spirit soared because now I know that the Jack Nation is EVERYWHERE.

That something is happening out there.

And that it could change Canadian politics in ways most people cannot IMAGINE.

Because these words have fallen like rain on a desert.

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.

And I agree with Stephen Lewis, who will deliver Jack's eulogy.

"That's what's so fascinating about the phenomenon of Jack Layton. Everybody feels that he's a friend — and a friend that they would willingly follow," Lewis observed. "Beyond the sadness and pain of his death — and it is an incomparable loss — there will lie a legacy which continues. I really feel that."

I know it's fashionable in Canada to sneer at emotion. And to regard people like me, as hopelessly idealistic or naive.

But I don't care eh? Because I was born into a bigoted world, so I never had a choice but to struggle for a better one, or a Promised Land.

And although I might not cry easily, I am proud to wear my heart on my sleeve. I feel sorry for those who can't. For why should they fear death when they are dead already?

And long before I even heard of Jack Layton, I had another hero.

And these mighty words, the night before he was murdered, compelled me to fight the bigots and the bullies...



Did you see that tiny rainbow? That's what hope means to me. My Promised Land is a kinder, gentler, fairer world.

I want to get there so much. Just like Jack did, but couldn't. So we will get there for him.

Yup. Some people and some words CAN move mountains.

The Jack Nation is born. And even in the darkness of Harperland.

Hope has returned to Canada...