You moved us Jack... and still do

Over the last few days I've spent a few hours on CPAC watching the diversity of people in this great land show their final respects to Jack. At times, I have been moved to tears by the love and respect shown by people from all walks of life, testifying to the greatness of this man whose simple dedication (like Mother Teresa) to making their lives better was his life long goal and mission. In this modern, selfish and egotistical world that is a great accomplishment and testament.

I was especially moved by my Japanese brothers and sisters who in bowing three times in front of Jack's casket expressed the highest respect shown in their culture to those they wish to honour. The ones who gave a simple salute or final farewell wave, or sign of the cross or those who prostrated themselves, all moved me with their acts of humbleness and respect. The mosaic of what makes up Canada: Native, French, English, Chinese, black, brown... the old, the young, families they all came to say their final farewell to someone they had grown to love and admire. A rare man (politician, no less) they came to know who really cared about them and their struggles, in addressing the lack of fairness and equality in our present system.

Jack moved people in so many ways to be better than what we are, and that one does not have to accept the status quo but can demand and work towards a better world, where no one is left behind.

So many already have written glowing tributes to Jack. It was not my intention to do that here. Rather, I'm trying to come to gripes with why people loved and respected him so? What I have come up with is that he was a simple man who did not believe in boundaries that separate people, but in inclusiveness instead. To many different types of people and groups Jack became a symbol of hope and champion of their battles and struggles, a man who did not discriminate against people but rejoiced in their diversity and made them feel they not only counted and were being listened to, but whose battles he was also fighting on their behalf. To me, Jack was a samurai warrior (less the violence) having a Buddhist heart and mind.

In a world where most people feel alone, Jack represented a friend who not only cared but who in fighting on your behalf gave you hope that tomorrow would be a brighter day. A true friend, one is lucky to have maybe once or twice in a life-time. Today, we all lost a real friend and knowing this we celebrate the life we shared with this man and the regrets mixed with grief in knowing he will be no more in our lives, but only in our memories. But whose dreams for a better world will still live on in all of us, if we just remember... "don't let them tell you it can't be done".


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.

Jack Layton: read his final letter to Canadians

Jack Latyton died today. You can read his final letter to Canadians here or on this blog below...


Jack Layton, MP, Député
Toronto - Danforth
Leader of the Official Opposition/Chef de l'Opposition officielle
Leader, New Democratic Party/Chef, Nouveau Parti démocratique

August 20, 2011
Toronto, Ontario


Dear Friends,

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination. Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue. I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected. I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same time lines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope.Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one - a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

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.

All my very best,
Jack Layton


A real man, with guts and a true heart.

Why we do the things we do

Living in a small community these last 17 years or so I have seen close hand the number of suicides that have taken place here. It brings this societal issue close to home when so many people you have come to know decide to end it all, for reasons they alone only know, and we can only guess at? Was it the loss of a loved one, not being able to support yourself and/or your family, state persecution/prosecution over the selling of cigarettes (such as with the Taylors some years back), depression, etc., etc., the list goes on and on for why people do what they do.

But suicide really hits home to most of us I think when a young hockey player who appears to be on top of the world in both fame and fortune decides it ain't worth it any more. Case in point is Rick Rypien. Was it mental illness, drugs, alcohol, depression... who knows? The point is that even those who appear to you and me to be on top of the world find life today in our modern society unbearable enough (despite their own personal favourable 'material' circumstances) to give up the fight and end it all. One such as Rick, who never backed down from a fight, finally caved in to the biggest fight of his life.

My heart goes out to all those who like Rick decided to fight no more and to those of us who refuse to give up the fight... no matter what life throws at us (such as my getting fired yesterday for no justifiable work related reason other than my having the audacity, like in Dickens classic novel ‘Oliver Twist’, of asking for more... and the owner's recent penchant for falling prey to malicious gossip of the 'anti-Prince' kind).

Is life fair? Can people be power trippers, mean-spirted, evil and greedy? Yes, they can! But that does not mean we should allow them to take from us what God alone has given us, and that is our free spirit, compassion and kindness for others, and love of life itself.


When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose - they often lose it.

Rambling thoughts of a vagabond

Being a trucker these days is pretty much being a vagabond except I do have a home I get to once in a while, and today having gotten here I resolved to once again stay in touch with you, my blogging buddies.

Here I sit at my computer feeling like something the cat dragged in bone weary and haggard. Long haul trucking is a young man's game as is flat decking. But a slave to the system is what I have been forced into once again. In that modern life's harsh realities have forced me to abandon my ideals for a quiet life. Instead I now live out of a truck a vagabond for most of the week serving as a mule for big business who having already taken our oil & gas, timber, water, etc., etc. now wants our junk too. I haul down to Tacoma, WA smashed cars to be smelted down and bring back manufactured goods from places in Washington and Oregon which somehow we are unable to manufacture here ourselves resulting in our people now having been reduced to nothing more that service industry wage and debt slaves to corporatocracy. But hey, America is all about business, they understand it and they're good at it (how they go about it is another story) while Canada has satisfied itself as being nothing more than a whore selling her wares to the highest bidder, while neglecting her children at home for the so called 'good life' which is only short-lived and never lasting nor fulfilling and satisfying, never mind life sustaining.

Prostituting ones life is not much of a life which is what we have become and done. Time to change and take back our home and native land.

We need leaders with vision, daring and determination to free us from a life of mammon, to break the chains of servitude to the mighty Pharohs of Egypt and thereby return back to us the 'promised land' that former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier so correctly and astutely (albeit off by more than a century) proclaimed... "the 20th century belongs to Canada".

What else is new you say? Not a bloody thing... the world keeps on spinning and we're all on a ride where we can't get off.


btw/ one thing I have learned on my travels is there is a lot of road kill that strikes me as such a shame and waste. Modern living has a price to pay for both man and beast. What price have you paid?


It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.