Jack Layton, RIP

By BJ Bjornson

Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, Dead at 61

While I didn�t always agree with him, I�ve always admired Layton as one of the nation�s most honest political leaders. He spent most of his career as a leader of the also-ran third or fourth party in parliament, yet still managed to make his presence felt from time to time. That he died just after managing to bring his party to previously undreamed-of historical success and before we could see what kind of an impact he could make from such increased prominence strikes me as the cruelest of ironies.

I did find a couple of points from his Star obituary worth noting:

Layton nonetheless credited being faced with what others thought of him with helping him to evolve from protester to powerbroker, an epiphany that he said came as he introduced himself while speaking to a group of engineering students in the mid-1980s.

�Jack Layton? I thought your name was �But�,� � one of the students wisecracked, noting how the newspapers always included the line �But Jack Layton said�� in stories about a new development proposal. �I realized I was in the process of being typecast. I decided, �We�re going to switch from opposition to proposition,� � Layton told the Star in 2003.

and,

�The reason I stick to a tough position on an issue is when I think there is still room for the conclusion to move. That�s from Taylor. He said it�s good to create debate because then you can create space within which new ideas can happen,� Layton told the Star in 1991.

�If you start with a compromise right at the beginning and no debate, you�re really only going with the status quote and buttering it up a little. No space is created for change to happen.�

Good advice that could be put to good use by his successors, as well as a few other politicians I could name.