As the NDP mourns the tragic loss of their leader Jack Layton and prepare to celebrate his life, many are praising his public service and mapping out his legacy. Scattered throughout the well wishes and condolences, you are hearing NDP pundits saying that we need to "carry on Jack's dream of building a better Canada". This is where I start to get uncomfortable because I strongly disagree with several aspects of Jack Layton's "better Canada" and feel like a jackass for saying that we do not need to become more socialist. You can only hear so many plugs for "social democracy" before it becomes annoying (FYI: social democracy is what all the cool kids are calling socialism these days).
To those on the left I would say that one day even Stephen Harper will pass away (unless we can confirm suspicions that Harper is infact an android not restricted by the boundaries of human life). I'm sure you guys and gals on the left won't be comfortable if we on the right start saying we need to carry on Harper's dream of making Canada a safer place by expanding prison capacity and toughening up criminal sentencing. It makes your opponents uncomfortable when you start pumping controversial policy positions as part of your grieving process. There were many who liked Jack Layton on a personal level who disagreed with the majority of his policies. Please do not use a tragic incident as an opportunity to deify your party platform.
Agree with you, Ice, but that's part of what was in the letter 'written' by Mr Layton just two days before his death. So it's not something just being said by the grieving who want their leader's legacy carried on; it was apparently said by the leader.
ReplyDeleteSadly one columnist said Jack would have become Prime Minister.Let,s get something straight,Jack was a likeable guy & a fighter for HIS PARTY the NDP.He was a great NDP politician,but he never would have become the Prime Minister of Canada.It is getting sickening the accolades by newspaper columnists about how he was a Winston Churchill..Quebec thought they were pulling the wool over our eyes.They never thought that PM Harper could win a majority,so they gambled on the NDP ,hoping to have great power within a coalition government..Well they outsmarted themselves and PM Harper won a majority..Now they are stuck with no representation and all the stories are of the great feat that Jack performed in Quebec.All the news articles of Jack wanting to change the way parliament is run and bring in his NDP policies..No thank you,Pm Harper is doing the changes most Canadians want changed.Just let the right honorable Jack Layton rest in Peace and leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteDid you read Christie Blatchford's excellent column on JL at the National Post,Ice? She says much of what has to be said about Layton.
ReplyDeleteLayton is like Jack Kennedy in a way,although without the wartime experience, born into luxury,handsome,intelligent,an eye for young ladies,and equipped with a social conscience.
Kennedy died before we ever had a chance to see what his effect on the world might have been.
Layton,too, died before he ever had to live up to his own rhetoric,and there was much of THAT, all in a vein critical of anything to his political Right.
MSM columnists have waxed poetic about Layton's passion and commitment to "the little guy", but while he may have been passionate about his ideals, he never had to put them to the test in the real world.
My local MP knew Layton well, said he was a decent guy,and that's good enough for me,but he is being idealized beyond anything he actually did for "the little guy". This guy was a professional politician,not Albert Schweitzer.
Had Layton actually won a Federal election and become PM,Canada would be a poor little sister to the bankrupt U.S.
Look just at Layton's buy-in to Kyoto,and imagine the costs of energy. Think $300 a month heating bills and $8 a gallon gas,with everything that travels by truck about 50% more expensive.
Think a massively expanded civil service,with accompanying golden pensions, think private property confiscated,and massive unemployment due to capital flight.
Layton,I DO concede,was a master poltician and Parliamentarian.That,coupled with his handsome countenance,speaking ability,and yes,passion, makes for a very attractive package,but only as a critic of the system fashioned by others,who didn't have the comfortable, safe, risk-free life Layton had,with a steady income provided by the taxpayers his entire working life.
That income was augmented by an expense account that put his yearly income in a bracket with many of the major corporate CEO's his Party despises.
Between them,Layton and Chow charged the Canadian taxpayer over 1.1 million dollars in expenses alone,their MP's salaries not included.
Yes, 61 is too young to die,especially to a disease like prostate cancer,and no sane person revels in the thought of the man suffering from that.
But I take issue with the MSM's deification of a man who was well rewarded in life for his ideals,and who lived the good life.
Did I compare him to JFK at the beginning of this post? A comparison to Princess Diana would be more appropriate.
Think of how his not running up expenses will help the deficit. And, how come he and his wife were from different ridings. THought you were supposed to live in your riding. Did she have a home, office etc in her riding. Did they double dip the taxpayer. For the amt they expensed for meals, seems they never used their kitchen table. And I love the "" marks around letter Jack supposedly wrote, with original quotes.
ReplyDeleteHow about this.
“In all things it is better to hope than to despair”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Quotes
"It makes your opponents uncomfortable when you start pumping controversial policy positions as part of your grieving process."
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly how I feel, and a good part of the reason I find it hard to "feel" sad about Jack's passing. Its hard to feel sad when you also feel discomfort and fear of socialist agendas.
I am very satisfied with the Canada I live in now, don't need a lot of union thugs to tell me what to do or how to do it.
ReplyDeleteJournalists and pundits need to gt their collective head out of their collective arse, methinks.
ReplyDeleteI think, in the last election, Quebecers voted for JACK LAYTON... not the nobody-rookie mp's they've been saddled with.
So the remaining question that should keep these "progressives" up wide-eyed at night is, with Jack gone, what's gonna happen now??
NO QUARTER
Wasn't it Mulcair who took the credit for the NDP huge success in Quebec and by endorsing the newbies even though some had no clue what they were getting themselves into.
ReplyDeleteJack's smile is all what the some quebecers voted for. Did they know anything of their new ndp mps-not likely. Instead, Jack's smile was used to get votes.
In fact, the NDP 'by passed' the media reporters. Had the reporters done their jobs as should be; NDP would not be sitting where they are right now.
Now that Jack is gone, be more on guard with those radical bunch in the NDP.
Jen said...
ReplyDeleteWasn't it Mulcair who took the credit for the NDP huge success in Quebec and by endorsing the newbies
Yes, and it was also Mulcair who took credit for forcing the election by bragging that he had "put a gun to [Layton's] head". I really, really hope the NDP is dumb enough to choose this vile, spiteful little man as their new leader. Please.
Mulcair is a huge favorite for leader but the unions will have the final say
ReplyDeleteMulcair is a huge favorite for leader but the unions will have the final say
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. Mulcair is still as unlikable as Jack! was likable, though. I say again: PLEASE elect this man as your leader. Show the rest of the country your real face, not the 'moderate' one you've been practicing in recent years.