The national outpouring of emotion over Jack Layton’s passing shouldn’t come as a surprise. In an age when public cynicism towards politicians has reached new highs, Jack was widely seen as an honest man whose goal really was to improve the lives of Canadians. One can only hope that more folks will take a closer look at his political beliefs and the party that Jack felt best represented those ideals.
The business-controlled media constantly refers to Jack’s political party as “the socialist NDP”, or other similarly-loaded descriptions designed to frighten as many voters as possible. I think the reaction to Jack’s death, however, is a sign that a majority of Canadians are far more in-tune with Layton’s beliefs, and those of his party, than the power brokers would like to admit. Canadians, by nature, are not strong supporters of any kind of dog-eat-dog small “c” conservatism. That we now have a majority Conservative government is simply a quirk of our voting system. A strong majority of Canadians – 60% in the last federal election – voted for political parties that can be described as centre, or left-of-centre in philosophy. In that sense, this is the reason we mourn Jack’s passing. He represented the hopes and aspirations of a majority of Canadians, and Mr. Harper’s Conservatives would be well-advised never to lose sight of that fact.
Don Rollins
Vernon
