LE BON JACK

Robin V. Sears

In this poignant appreciation of , his friend Robin Sears considers the impact of the NDP leader’s death on Canadians, who mourned not the politician so much as the man. They were touched by his gallant campaign, of which his cane became the symbol, as well the grace and bravery he showed in his final illness over the summer. “As a cancer survivor,” Sears writes, “he gave courage and comfort to millions of Canadian families waging the same struggle.” As for his political legacy, he took the NDP from the fourth party in the House to Official Opposition, crushing the separatist Bloc Québécois in the process, “giving Quebecers a powerful new federalist choice.” 1950-2011 Dans ce vibrant hommage à son ami Jack Layton, Robin Sears observe l’effet de la disparition du chef du NPD sur les Canadiens, qui ont pleuré la perte de l’homme plus que du leader politique. Car ils ont été touchés par la classe avec laquelle il a fait campagne, appuyé sur cette canne devenue un symbole, autant que par la force et la dignité dont il a fait preuve en cette fin d’été où il se savait condamné. « Ce survivant du cancer a inspiré courage et réconfort aux millions de familles canadiennes qui vivent le même combat », écrit-il. Pour ce qui est de son héritage politique, il aura propulsé le quatrième parti de la Chambre des communes au rang d’opposition officielle, laminant au passage les indépendantistes du Bloc québécois et « offrant aux Québécois une nouvelle et solide option fédéraliste ».

trong leaders deny or disguise their disease and dis- sometimes mawkish displays of love and admiration, he ability. Roman emperors and English kings did it. pointed out, were a testament not to Jack as a politician, or S Roosevelt and Churchill did it. So did John Kennedy even to Jack as a compelling leader in the fight for social jus- and even . As recently as the 1980s, David tice, though those were important parts of the outpouring. Lewis insisted for years that his spreading cancer not be They were a tribute to a man who publicly flaunted his revealed beyond a tight family circle. final battle with several cancers, who painfully limped, then Whether it is the disfigurement of polio in Roosevelt’s and hobbled, then hopped, and finally ran across the finish line Douglas’ cases, or the depression and despair that led Churchill in the triumphant electoral victory of his life, cane bran- to drink prodigiously, or the agony of deep back pain that led dished on election night as he saluted his supporters, only Kennedy to consume daily a powerful cocktail of painkillers to have that victory snatched from him weeks later. The best and barbiturates, the reason for leaders’ public deceit is always story and the best storyteller always win in politics. Jack’s the same: illness is weakness, weakness invites attack. was epic by any standard. At least in Canada, that will never happen again. It was a moment that stunned the nation. Despite the Jack Layton’s celebration of life in the face of death dreadful gaunt visage Canadians had witnessed only weeks bequeathed us this transformation in our politics as his final before, no one was prepared for the shocking news early on a legacy. It will be among the most important of his achievements normally sleepy summer Monday morning. Skeptics, ignorant to those who struggle to survive cancer or other medical curses of the necessary armour of a battle against a powerful disease, and to live lives of meaning and fulfillment at the same time. muttered that he must have known, that he should have told The instant cliché of his cane brandished in defiance, not Canadians that he was dying. One hopes, when faced with the disability, and the cartoons and photos of that bravado now same existential nightmare, they come to understand that flooding the Internet will live as proof of the triumph of, as he however long the odds, no one who cheats cancer by living a said, “hope over fear.” One can almost hear, years from now, meaningful life ever admits defeat, or even its prospect. a partner or a physiotherapist imploring a deflated stroke vic- Despite insistent pressure from the media, he refused to tim to “Think of Jack” as an appeal against surrender. discuss the new cancer that had hit him. was was the first to frame this power behind equally determined after his death, saying that Jack did not Canada’s almost universal emotional eruption, in an elegant want every prostate survivor to think that his would be their elegy in Maclean’s. The explosion of grief and then the fate as well.

8 OPTIONS POLITIQUES OCTOBRE 2011 Le bon Jack

Two decades earlier, as a busy inated the national news agenda for ery of government to prepare a state politician, Jack had accompa- days, with spontaneous displays of funeral. It was a gracious and bold deci- nied his father to his Toronto prostate mourning in cities across the country, sion. Despite some muttering among surgeon on many visits over several culminating in a controversial state his own colleagues and some astonish- years. As the now internationally funeral watched by millions of ingly graceless commentary among a famous surgeon, ironically counsellor Canadians. Those powerful images few predictable pundits, it showed both to both father and son in their cancer and memories will be slow to fade. statesmanship and adroit political skill. battles, said, “In all my years of family Reporters covering the 1980 Carter- Imagine the reaction if, on seeing visits I have rarely seen a man play the Reagan campaign travelling through the outpouring of grief that swept many Canadians, the Prime Jack Layton’s celebration of life in the face of death Minister had done what bequeathed us this transformation in our politics as his final anal bureaucrats in the pro- legacy. It will be among the most important of his tocol section of Heritage Canada and tradition achievements to those who struggle to survive cancer or would have prescribed, and other medical curses and to live lives of meaning and simply said no to the public fulfillment at the same time. call for a grand celebration. It would have become role of care guardian. It is always small towns in West Virginia were aston- another example of the harsh partisan women who accompany my patients. ished to find on kitchen walls faded pic- edge with which he is usually lashed. It made an early impression on me tures of Jack Kennedy. Nearly two Curiously, Harper has shown a about Jack.” Layton’s early exposure to decades after his sudden death, Kennedy similar compassion and sensitive the painful nightmare of a long battle remained an icon for many Americans, a antennae in a number of other cases, with cancer — his father’s lasted a sad memory of what might have been. but has usually chosen to keep his role decade — made him keenly aware of remains a political lode- a secret. He has intervened behind the the debilitating myths and stereotyp- stone for many Canadian Liberals a scenes to overturn bureaucrats’ and ing surrounding cancer care. decade after his death and a generation even security officials’ recommenda- Talking to other cancer survivors after he left office. tions where a more sensitive approach in private, Jack would say, “You can’t Jack Layton will not have that to Canadian families in distress was just tell people ‘not to worry,’ or ‘pre- same gravitational pull 20 years from called for. pare to die in six months.’ You can’t now, but like and expect everyone to be able to carry on Tommy Douglas, he has already been he grace was widely recognized or tell others they should just quit. admitted to the very small club of T and praised, except in a few cases You just have to give everyone sup- politicians that most Canadians of of deliberate insult, a sad product of port for the way they choose to fight every political conviction remember the cynical armour that some journal- this battle. For me, I am a fighter…to with affection and respect. Reporters in ists and politicians grow to shield the end.” small towns in will, I suspect, themselves from life’s disappoint- find faded copies of Pat Corrigan’s ments; theirs is a bitterness that gener- t had never happened before — not powerful image of Jack on a bike, flag ates sarcastic sneers about death. I in Canada, nor in any modern flying behind while riding into the Layton, who often delighted in biting democracy. A leader at the height of sunset, several elections from now. public and private self-deprecation, his career, struck down within weeks The transformation from politi- would merely have chuckled at their of his greatest political triumph, but cian reasonably well liked to political vulgarity. not before he could carefully lay out sainthood was, in Layton’s case, sud- The Prime Minister endured, with his political will to his family and den, stunning and unheard of in the occasional wry grimace, the hor- political allies. His political legacy, Canadian politics. Tommy Douglas tatory rhetoric of at therefore, will last longer and be an moved into the small pantheon of the the funeral. He stood and clapped — invisible hand guiding his party, its permanently blessed slowly, over sev- requiring some of his even more caucus and its supporters more direct- eral decades. reluctant cabinet colleagues to follow ly than we have ever seen in Within minutes of Layton’s passing suit — at the frequent calls for a more Canadian politics. on a summer Monday morning, just and equal Canada. He even The interplay of triumph and loss, recognized that it danced hesitantly, prodded by hope and grief that marked Jack would become a unifying moment for Laureen, as the audience rocked to a Layton’s final weeks was almost Canadians. He called Olivia Chow with cathartic version of “Rise Up,” Shakespearean. His sudden death dom- his idea and then ordered the machin- ’s anthem of

POLICY OPTIONS 9 OCTOBER 2011 Robin V. Sears

liberation. , mean- left chalked messages for “their Jack,” Douglas had an acid tongue in pri- while, tried hard to appear comfort- and then returned several times to vate, and Pierre Trudeau could be able clapping to the rocker’s call to rewrite them as the rain came several staggeringly cruel to those close to action, aware of colleagues watching times in that astonishing week, will him. Those aspects of character have him, everyone contrasting the joy in describe the powerful emotions that been removed from the official the room with his cringe-inducing swept those crowds to their children hagiographies. Saint Jack is already a effort to use a similar appeal so awk- years from now. victim of this process. wardly only months before. Far more interesting and uplifting Standing in a darkened hall with here is a message in these sudden as a life story is the reality that the Jack thousands of Canadians of a wider T outpourings of joy, anger or grief. Layton who electrified Canadians with spectrum of age and persuasion, eth- It is usually a raised middle finger to his courage in fighting for life was a far nicity and political values than have established authority. Canadians hon- more complex husband, father and probably ever been seen together, ouring Jack Layton were also express- leader than the two-dimensional chanting, stomping, many openly in ing their anger and frustration with poster hero that sainthood demands. tears as Segato took them higher and the political elites. Toronto Mayor Rob He started out as a somewhat ungra- higher, was a little head-snapping. Ford respected this as he paid tribute cious child of privilege and grew Canadians of a certain generation to what he had learned from Layton as almost inevitably into teenage rebel- boast quietly about our softer, more a young councillor and stood, clearly lion, an often angry university student elegant form of national celebration, moved, with his hand on the coffin. and then a polemicist and compelling in contrast to our more coarse neigh- understood this message from teacher. bours. We cheer but we don’t As a young politician in his bellow or bawl in public, is the Within minutes of Layton’s passing 30s he was often impatient, mantra of a more Presbyterian on a summer Monday morning, insensitive to hierarchy, Canada. If one reads the nuance and ritual, a self- accounts of riots and celebra- Stephen Harper recognized that it appointed crusader who could tion in the revolts of 1837, or would become a unifying moment be blind to the offence he gave. the burning of the Parliament for Canadians. He called Olivia His most bitter enemies of Buildings in in 1849, Chow with his idea and then those days were often on the or the national grief as the sur- left as well as among Liberals viving sons returned from the ordered the machinery of and Conservatives. carnage of 1918, it is doubtful government to prepare a state His childhood was one of that it was ever true. funeral. It was a gracious and bold Canadian gentility, with a decision. Father of Confederation, a ut for a younger generation provincial cabinet minister and B and for Canadians whose a piano manufacturer among backgrounds are rooted in cultures of Canadians, better than some of his his direct ancestors. His affluent father, public celebration and sorrow, that is not more jejune interviewers, in his calm an engineer who led Sunday school their Canada. They wanted to share the but determined rejection of their sev- classes, instilled a boisterous confi- joy and pain together, to be part of a eral efforts to tempt him into conven- dence in his son and went on to huge social occasion, online and in pub- tional partisan rhetoric. become first an activist for Jean lic squares. Stephen Harper understood We now live in a world where Lesage’s Liberals and later a Mulroney that instantly, even if it took most of us these instant reactions of millions of cabinet minister and caucus chair. His longer. citizens to unpredictable signals and mother instilled deep social values, Like the Arab Spring and the events are the norm. The task of lead- including a high Protestant respect for , Greek, Chilean and ership today is to encourage and chan- the poor, the powerless and those rele- London riots this summer, the nel the transcendent opportunities, gated to life on the margins by disabil- Layton outpouring demonstrates and to anticipate and diminish the ity, language or luck. how quick to enrage and easy to more destructive. Sneering dismissal is As David Brooks reports in his mobilize are citizens born in a digital not a wise option. review of new research into politics, age. These eruptions may turn ugly or Beatification, political or spiritu- social policy and our changing under- catalyze dramatic social change, but al, removes texture, context, colour standing of the real drivers of human they cannot be dismissed. Those who and contrast. The new saint is motivation, The Social Animal, these were in Tahrir Square have been always stripped of complexity and roots are powerful advantages. This transformed by their experience. presented to the world in raiments inherited and then nurtured confi- Many of the young Canadians who of improbable perfection. Tommy dence, courage, sense of self and

10 OPTIONS POLITIQUES OCTOBRE 2011 Le bon Jack possibility that can come from an edu- cated upper-middle-class childhood, guided by parents determined to bal- ance privilege with responsibility, confers enormous advantage. Layton was an icon of this power- ful combination: handsome, smart and a natural persuader to boot. He could have become the driving CEO of a Canadian technology company, pushing innovation and wooing cus- tomers with smiling determination. He might have been an enormously successful litigator, capable of holding a client and a courtroom in his hand. His genes and connections would have granted access to large success in any Montreal or Toronto business or pro- fessional setting. That he chose a life of social activism was no doubt in part a result of the times: Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, followed by Toronto’s explosion of civic and international activism, and the international zeit- geist of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He gave his mother credit as the men- tor who pounded into him the sense of social obligation that his privilege demanded.

rom his early days in Hudson, F Quebec, Layton demonstrated the confidence and determination about right and wrong that remained his style 50 years later. In those days, this moral certitude could be binary and unforgiving. He was boisterous and athletic even in childhood, and class- mates from elementary school recall his precocious defence of the under- dog. “Little Jackie Layton,” as one friend’s older sibling insisted on call- ing him, could be seen racing down Courtesy: Pat Corrigan, The Birch Hill on his bike, decked out in On his trademark bicycle, Jack Layton rides off into the sunset. His gallant campaign and his geeky glasses, baggy trunks and “what- brave final struggle with cancer touched millions of Canadians. ever bizarre one of his many weird T- shirts he had grabbed that morning.” He was a competitive swimmer Layton believed was insufficiently As one club member from then from a young age, and as another welcoming to children from local and now put it, “Jack probably knew childhood and lifelong friend sepa- francophone families. His criticism even at that age that the franco- rated by only a week in age said, that francophones were not wel- phone Hudson families had neither “And I mean competitive!” They comed as members was dismissed by the money for a boat nor a yacht sailed and swam at the Hudson Yacht adults as unfair. “They simply don’t club membership, and that they Club, a small-town institution that apply” was the claim. would be shunned if they tried to

POLICY OPTIONS 11 OCTOBER 2011 Robin V. Sears

join in any event.” Jack used various ment two years later. He clearly was- ernment is now redoing foreign invest- ruses to introduce young francopho- n’t kidding when he first publicly ment rules. ne friends to the club. The stunts did asserted the same ambition in the Those who remember it say that not amuse the adults, and friends 2006 campaign, and despite the the rhetoric of the thesis is dated, chuckle at the memory of his parents resounding sneers, by 2011 it was no and the economics somewhat shal- juggling social convention on one longer improbable. low. For many liberals and social hand and support for their rambunc- His family left for Toronto in 1970 democrats of his generation, the tious son on the other. and he continued his activism on the nuances of how to manage a mixed campus of the newly created York market economy, especially one e was regularly promoting causes University. He worked his way through locked into the largest capitalist H to his high school mates, the academic ranks, completing his doc- engine in the world, held little inter- demanding that the school should torate more than 10 years later, while est. Unlike European social democ- contribute money to conservation or teaching at Ryerson Polytechnic. rats of the 1970s and 1980s, few international development. As head of Focusing on Canadian postwar experi- Canadian progressives grappled sin- the 1967 student council he hounded ence, his doctorate was on the recondite cerely, let alone successfully, with the school and the town to improve issue of national governments’ efforts to the challenge of nurturing a progres- recreational facilities for Hudson’s control multinational capital flows. His sive society in an open trading econ- youth in Canada’s centennial year, case was the Foreign Investment Review omy. Until the sudden end of the publishing the first of a lifetime’s op- Agency, the failed effort by Trudeau to golden era of 1945 to 1973 and the ed appeals in the Hudson Gazette. control the flow of American capital first oil shock, progressives were Tired of the haranguing, when into Canadian business. comfortable to keep building out the Layton one day made a “final In the ironies of political life, FIRA , secure in the knowl- demand,” the school principal out- was abolished by his father’s govern- edge that the economic pie would foxed the young activist. Layton, ment less than three years after Layton keep expanding. It remains a gap in infused with the spirit of the times, had completed his thesis. His conclusion, progressive program and policy in announced that he and his colleagues not surprisingly for a social democrat, many places to this day. were going to take over the school was that governments must manage One of the steepest growth paths gym, staging a sit-in until their the sometimes disruptive impact of Layton trod was his move from this demands were met. The principal flows of global capital. Stephen Harper, simplistic economic-left nationalism merely closed the gym for the day and left Layton and Canadians honouring Jack Layton were also expressing their his team to “sit in” all day anger and frustration with the political elites. Toronto Mayor without comment. In respected this as he paid tribute to what he had increasing hunger and frus- tration, the band began to learned from Layton as a young councillor and stood, clearly head home at the end of a moved, with his hand on the coffin. deflating day. A deaf and speech-impaired stu- finalizing his master’s in international to a deeper understanding of the dent at Hudson High was the frequent economics a decade later, would no challenges of building high-value butt of cruel taunts — unless Jack was doubt have disagreed. employment in a open market econ- around to defend her and to omy. One of the several tragedies that denounce the bullies, which he did s in many other policy arenas, Layton’s premature death inflicts is vigorously for four years, her still A Layton was early to reach a con- the loss of a leader able to move admiring sister reports. He later troversial conclusion later seen as com- many progressive voters to a more recruited his protégé to be his typist mon sense. Several Asian governments sophisticated and pragmatic econom- on the high school yearbook, in those clamped on tight capital controls in ic policy agenda. days produced in secret so that stu- the wake of their fiscal crisis in the Layton recognized that the issues dents’ smart-aleck jabs at their mates 1990s and fared much better than of governance were more complex and would remain a surprise until year those that allowed capital to under- the solutions more frustratingly diffi- end. He wrote her conspiratorially, “I mine their currencies and markets. cult during his years on Toronto city know you can keep a secret!” Limits on shorting currencies and council. As leader, he turned increas- One scribble in a friend’s year- bank stocks, taxes on derivatives trad- ingly to the tough fiscal discipline of book says: “Off to become Prime ing and forced disclosure of multina- Manitoba and Saskatchewan New Minister!” a role to which he was tional currency transfers are all today Democratic governments, engaging in elected in the McGill model parlia- conventional tools. The Harper gov- searching dialogue with their leaders,

12 OPTIONS POLITIQUES OCTOBRE 2011

Robin V. Sears

especially Roy Romanow and Allan working political leader he became. It nearest microphone. The knock on Blakeney. He was training to govern. was Dan’s soft, subtle political skill, first him at the point of his arrival in As a teacher at Ryerson in the devoted to cleaning up Jack’s messes was also that he was merely an 1970s, Layton avoided economics, and later helping frame his successful urban activist with no credentials on focusing on the emerging urban decade as a consummate deal maker, national or international issues, espe- activism then sweeping North that turned Layton from the dead end cially economic. American cities. It was a thrilling time of activist blowhard to becoming one of Following Layton’s death, some in Toronto civic politics, with “tiny the most successful opposition politi- sneered at the “visionary” title perfect mayor” leading cians of his generation. bestowed in so many eulogies. But, the charge against the hollowing out It was Dan who managed decades before today’s conventional of the downtown core, and a genera- Layton’s courageous efforts in the wisdom developed, his embrace of tion of activists laying the foundation mid-1980s to focus Toronto and the issues that include AIDS, First Nations economic development, His embrace of issues that include AIDS, First Nations same sex-marriage, climate economic development, same sex marriage, climate change, change, social housing and social housing and homelessness, cities as a central national homelessness, cities as a issue, and renewable energy — among a much longer list — central national issue and renewable energy — among surely qualifies as visionary. a much longer list — surely of later victories on homelessness, province on the rapidly rising AIDS qualifies as visionary. It may not be a social housing and transit. death toll. A brave young community conventional Canadian political Layton taught trainee journalists doctor, Phil Berger, a pioneer in AIDS vision, but it moved a generation to how to cover the new municipal treatment in North America, plotted his banner. activists, and young urban planners for months with Leckie and Layton Some leaders are born, some blos- how to fight development excess, and on how to push the city and Queen’s som later. Churchill was famously out offered courses on new trends in tran- Park to respond more generously to to pasture permanently before hitting sit, social housing and municipal the most serious public health crisis the peak of his career. Pierre Trudeau finance. A charismatic, long-haired, to hit the city since the plagues of had scant real achievement before his young prof, he was stereotypical of the polio and cholera generations before. 40th birthday and didn’t even enter progressive activist young “professori- They had to fight lingering anti- politics until he was 46. David Lewis at” then sprouting at many Canadian gay attitudes in high places, anxiety was a driver of Canadian social democ- universities. He and colleague Myer from closeted gay men — some in high racy before his 25th birthday. Layton Siemiatycki created 48 hours (!) of places — about the risk of backlash falls somewhere in between. radio programming as a full-year against the ferocity of their demands Those who remember him from course for Ryerson’s pioneering Open and a squeamishness among politi- his teaching days are still stunned at University. cians and their staffs about a disease the statesman who slowly emerged One of his male students at the that was, after all, about sex. two decades later. His early colleagues time recalls a light-hearted, breezy, on city council smile nostalgically at story-filled teaching style that capti- n greasy Chinatown restaurants, “Opposition Jack,” happier too often vated most students, but a professor I in committee rooms and private to be right rather than victorious, keen whose overwhelming appeal to female homes, they hounded the city’s for righteous defeat. students did not make him as popular establishment into greater assistance In addition to Leckie, most with some male student competitors. for the victims of the plague and point to Olivia Chow as the second The highlight of one year was Layton’s their friends, families and lovers. Not powerful influence in his transfor- announcement of the birth of his only were there no brownie points or mation from the champion of moral daughter, Sarah, and his glowing affec- political benefits to be had in this victories to the architect of real tion and then proud circulation of pioneering campaign, but Layton social change. Chow is a consum- baby photos. risked many friendships and the sup- mate networker and relationship port of some older progressive allies builder, slowly building a path from ayton always acknowledged the who wished the subject would sim- school trustee to councillor to MP L debt he owed to an extraordinary ply go away. often against long odds. She was staffer, friend and ally, . Some national media pundits often more respected than loved, Leckie gets credit from most observers liked to hammer Layton for his self- however, as a tough political opera- of that era for pushing Jack toward the promotional style and his frequent tive who delivered to colleagues the relationship-focused, deal-making, net- and sometimes irritating rush to the hard political messages that Jack

14 OPTIONS POLITIQUES OCTOBRE 2011 Le bon Jack didn’t want to be associated with. easier to nurture a beautiful orchid to overstate the magnitude of this She took down , one of than it is to train a successful politi- upheaval. It has unhinged the sou- the toughest Italian Liberal machine cal leader, unless the basic ingredi- verainistes movement in Quebec, now politicians of his generation, several ents are already there. Jack Layton cracking provincially. It has sent an times, and then defeated his wife, had those genes, but it was his intel- enormous number of bright young not the achievement of someone ligence, his deep listening ability Quebec MPs to Ottawa, with several without steely determination and a and his choice of advisers that stars already obvious among them. tough hide. allowed those skills to soar. And for Canada, most important- Building a political party reduced ly, it has probably permanently ome say she served as the yin to to a shadow of its former glory is one crushed the cruel lie that centre-left S Jack’s pushy, unyielding yang. By of the toughest, most demanding jobs Quebec voters must choose sover- the time of Leckie’s tragically young in public life. Morale and money are eignty over federalism, absent a pro- death in 1998, Olivia had replaced him low, media lack of interest universal, gressive alternative, in federal as the strategic counsellor and political and the survivors of defeat who politics. Federalism and social barometer for Layton. It was a power- remain are rarely the timber from democracy had been star-crossed ful political partnership that some which you can successfully rebuild. political partners in Quebec since the close to Layton struggled with. Stephen Harper’s predecessors had days of J.S. Woodsworth. Many of the She grew along with Layton, per- each failed, as had Jack Layton’s. pieces of Layton’s legacy, without sonally and politically. The transfor- Quebec, would be a significant life’s mation from the scrappy school t is hard to remember that less than achievement. trustee of the 1980s to the regal fig- I a decade ago the NDP was in single But it is his success, as a native ure of silent but eloquent grief digits nationally, its premature eulo- son, in giving Quebec voters a power- marching alone at the head of the gies being cheerfully circulated by its ful new federalist choice and Quebec funeral cortege was staggering. Her traditional enemies. The rump of the an important place in federal politics interview with Peter for the first time in a genera- Mansbridge was a masterpiece For Canada, most importantly, it has tion that is the mark of his for both: sage reflection on statesmanship. He made the humanity, on sharing life and probably permanently crushed the commitment to build a real on exiting it with grace and cruel lie that centre-left Quebec party in Quebec from the day courage. It felt like eavesdrop- voters must choose sovereignty over of his entry into federal poli- ping on a sombre conversation federalism, absent a progressive tics, to the chagrin of some of between friends sheltering his supporters, many with per- from a quiet summer rain. alternative, in federal politics. sonal memories of political Jack Layton always had a heartbreak in Quebec going certain charisma, along with the confi- party was dominated, as rumps back a generation. He delivered it in dence of birth and upbringing. So it inevitably are, by a hard core of main- the conventional way: clear strategy was not easy for Liberal and New ly aging white guys and a scattering of and slow, patient hard work, com- Democrat competitors to see him aging local riding queen bees, pining bined with endless networking. dominate a room upon entry. His con- for the good old days. It was this very fidence could be seen as swagger, his cracked chalice that Jack Layton any politicians — eloquence as vain rhetoric. As a inherited only eight years before M famously — have similar skill sets “Layton,” Jack had an ease with power vaulting the party into official oppo- and worn-out Rolodexes, and the disci- and powerful leaders not common sition. Assembling one of the smartest pline to remember birthdays, weddings among many on the left. Some resent- teams of political staffers, recruiting and retirements by the hundreds. Like ed his skill at using his access to power some of the best young opposition Mulroney, a friend in later years, Layton and his comfort in any social setting. MPs and focusing them on a con- was on the phone, often preceded by a He moved easily from the stiff deco- stantly disciplined message, he rebuilt BlackBerry note, with literally hundreds rum of meetings with ministers to the the NDP. of Canadians, almost nonstop. Friends, wilder challenge of soothing an angry, His achievement was crowned by journalists, political competitors, aca- disoriented homeless man. the astonishing rout of the Bloc demics and business leaders were often Leadership is a curious quality. Québécois, which in one blow broke stunned to pick up the phone and hear, As with beauty, most people agree the NDP’s Quebec curse, brought a vast “Hi, it’s Jack Layton here. Have you got a what it looks like when they see it. majority of Quebec voters back into minute?” An essential ingredient of political federal politics and reshaped the A former speechwriter who had- life, it’s also frustratingly rare. It is Canadian political landscape. It is hard n’t seen Jack in years got a call one

POLICY OPTIONS 15 OCTOBER 2011 Robin V. Sears

night with the request, “Someone and the cool Machiavellian analysis of When history takes a sharp and showed me this great piece you did a the strengths and weaknesses of the unexpected turn it is impossible to few years ago. You mind if I steal a various players to be revealed when resist the temptation to indulge in few of your best lines?” Like writers the curtain was raised. what-ifs. It is especially tempting in everywhere used to having their Had he had a political partner this case, as Layton and his party were material poached without notice or with a less enfeebled political infra- weeks away from a dramatic new chap- thanks, he was flattered at the request structure — the national Liberal ter. At least two developments that and left to reflect on what the call Party at the time was a ghost ship seemed secure only months ago are said about the man. manned by a delirious captain sur- now questions. Layton would have Jack listened carefully in these rounded by a troop of loyalists so confounded the skeptics about his abil- late-night sessions, and in chance incompetent they could not operate ity to mould his young Quebec caucus encounters on his bike, and at social a video camera — Canada would into an impressive political machine. and political events. His positions on probably still be governed by its first He’d done it before and he saw build- ing a federal social demo- It is his success, as a native son, in giving Quebec voters a cratic base in Quebec as his powerful new federalist choice and Quebec an important most important legacy. place in federal politics for the first time in a generation that is the mark of his statesmanship. e would also have pur- H sued the path of co- people and policy never moved far peacetime coalition, about to seek re- operation with the Liberal Party. It from an early conviction on right and election. The compelling math sug- would probably have been an explo- wrong, but the path to get to victory gesting a merger on the centre left ration of cooperation rather than sometimes took wide curves. For some today collides with New Democrats’ merger, at least at first. But he was an on the left those curves were too wide still fresh memories of the stunning inveterate alliance builder as a politi- — his recognition that working-class incompetence of one Liberal leader, cian. He knew the implacable arith- voters wanted governments to be followed by the naked treachery of metic of three non-Conservative tough on crime in their neighbour- his successor. parties fighting over half the electoral hoods caused some to quit the NDP. Jack in his role as the grand con- pie. Now both the NDP and the For those who watched with greater ciliator was far less harsh about the Liberals are about to be thrust into the care his polestar never moved, simply Liberals’ bungling than many uncertainty of leadership battles. Until his recognition that successful political around him. He was careful in the those races are decided — not for journeys rarely follow a straight path. run-up to the 2011 campaign to another 18 months in the case of the keep his guns focused on the Liberals — it will be impossible to he high point in his political Conservatives and his offer to know. Each party under new leaders T growth before the 2011 campaign Canadians of New Democrats as a could take another sharp turn away was his near victory after a very wide better alternative. He ignored the from Quebec and each other. swerve in his political journey — the hapless Ignatieff campaign to the As “le bon Jack,” Layton brought coalition battle of 2008. extent the media permitted. He new grace and pride to the rough trade of has written a compelling tick-tock knew the missteps of 2008 should politics, at a time when some were push- account of those fascinating weeks in not be used as an excuse to slam ing it to new lows. As a cancer survivor November, cheekily titled How We doors on future cross-party coopera- he gave courage and comfort to millions Almost Gave the Tories the Boot. But for tion. He mostly ignored the amateur of Canadian families waging the same strategic reasons it is hardly a “tell-all”; Liberal leader’s humiliating efforts struggle. As a Quebecer he opened new key manœuvres and the role of dis- to dodge the coalition bullet at the doors for an entire generation of voters in creet players weren’t revealed, left for a campaign’s launch. Some New his native province, and across Canada. later memoir. Democrats wanted a guarantee that As a party leader he rebuilt social democ- Those with a glimpse through the Ignatieff’s betrayal of the previous racy as a political voice in Canada when window during the first attempt at a efforts could not be repeated. In the many had pronounced it dead. It is a parliamentary coup in Canada since quiet cross-party planning for a new considerable legacy. King-Byng were collectively stunned at coalition that preceded the cam- the carefully scripted game plan paign, Liberals quietly dismissed the Contributing Writer Robin V. Sears is a Layton followed, the ears that had concern, acknowledging that principal of Ensight Canada. He is a for- been whispered in months in advance, Ignatieff’s view was not relevant; he mer national director of the New the blocking manœuvres that had would not be a decision maker fol- Democratic Party. been anticipated and worked around, lowing election night. [email protected]

16 OPTIONS POLITIQUES OCTOBRE 2011