Rest in Peace Jack Layton

This is a difficult post for me to write;

While not a member of the NDP, I can say this without any apprehension, Jack Layton was one of the reasons I became involved in public life and without a doubt, has been the Canadian politician I have respected the most since 2004 or so. While I respect many politicians from all political stripes such as John Crosby (former Conservative Cabinet Minister from Newfoundland), Ed Broadbent, Jean Chretien, and of course the greatest Canadian of all Tommy Douglas, I have found that Jack has impressed me the most (after Douglas of course). After he became leader of the federal New Democratic Party, the former President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and a former Toronto City Councillor, (while not holding a Federal seat) impressed me with his ability to garner media attention on issues related to social justice and the environment (both issues that matter to me a great deal). During his first federal election campaign, I watched a CBC report on his background and I was impressed. I was mostly impressed at his work as a City Councillor with the City of Toronto. The former political science professor, Layton fought for the environment, gay rights, funding for HIV/Aids, and the homeless (when it was not politically correct to do so). This report helped inspire me to run in the 2006 City Election. I always worked in recreation and with communities, and I have seen first-hand how poverty can hinder a child’s development and can negatively impact families. As an adult educator (similar professional background as Layton) I thought the municipal level would be a good opportunity to make some positive changes to assist families. I read two of Jack Layton’s books and took the lessons learned from that into my fight for a municipal seat. Upon election to City Hall, I fought for many left leaning issues that were not necessarily fought for in the past at City Hall. Many of my fellow councillors (in good fun) poked fun at me for my views on crime prevention, my fierce opposition to circuses and my pro animal rights opinions, and my views on recreation as a social service, not economic development tool (a battle I am still fighting). With that said, I would watch the nightly news and see Layton going against the grain and fighting for families so I kept trucking.
Side bar story – I have had 3 encounters with Mr. Layton, all three very positive. My first I was writing a paper for a course on labour education on how the Canadian Labour Congress joined with the CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation) to form the NDP. I emailed the NDP with some questions on the background. I received a very detailed letter with links to research and history on the topic from Jack Layton. He even provided his perspective on the topic. Layton, being the former university professor, took the time to respond to a grad student and his direction for my paper helped me a great deal. I will never forget that and it meant so much to me.
My second encounter was at an initiative in Charlottetown about homelessness. I met him there and he signed 2 books for me that he wrote. We had a great discussion on proportional representation and poverty. He tried to get me to join the NDP as well. He was tremendous and I enjoyed talking with him for 20-30 minutes or so.
My third encounter with him was when I was elected to Summerside City Council. I was at the annual FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) conference in Quebec City. After attending Layton’s speech, Basil Stewart (who is good friends with Layton) introduced me to Layton and Jack and I had a nice chat in which he said to me, “You know Cory, we could use a good young candidate like you in Egmont”. I was again impressed with his down to Earth approach and ability to connect with municipal politicians. Of all the Federal and Provincial politicians I have met since 2006, Layton understood more than any the challenges of municipalities in my opinion.

HomelessnessAs a grad student I took many courses in public policy and administration. One course called “Public Leadership”, I wrote my final paper which I called “Government Paradigm, Partnerships and Homelessness in Canada”, I used Jack Layton’s book he wrote on homelessness as a sort of inspiration on the topic. Here are a few quotes from his book I used in my 30 page final paper in this course:
“To complicate matters, Canadians are blessed (or cursed) with three levels of government: municipal, provincial, and federal. But which level has responsibility for housing? The answer to that question depends on whom you ask or how you phrase the question. However, in recent years, municipalities have been forced to deal with the issue, because the “higher” levels of government have, for the most part, washed their hands of the problem. And municipalities don’t have the money to create solutions.”
(Layton, 2000, p.130)
According to homelessness advocate, Federal NDP Leader and Member of Parliament Jack Layton; “The politics of homeless began with an attack on politics of denial. Denial had set it deeply. In response to deaths of homeless people, Ontario Premier Mike Harris offered this question: Isn’t it sad that these people just want to be homeless?” The subtext was clear: Homelessness is not political, it’s individual choice and completely immune from government policy. The public was implicitly urged not to look at the cutbacks to the funding of Ontario social programs like affordable housing construction.” (Layton, 2000)

Canadians lost a great fighter for social justice this week; truly an inspiration to all and in particular inspired me to get involved in community politics and activism, Jack Layton you will be missed.