(With apologies to Marcel Proust, because I can never seem to have an original thought!)
In the last federal election held in Canada in 2011, the NDP became the official opposition under the leadership of Jack Layton. A native Québecker, he had lived in Toronto for many years, sitting as a city councillor before entering federal politics.
Mr. Layton always spoke of hope - it was central to his message to his party and his country; in his acceptance speech upon becoming the leader of the NDP he said:
"Hope ... is what drives New Democrats."
And it was that message that he left to Canadians in an open letter sent around the world only two days before his death:
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.
In the election campaign that my country just went through, it is safe to say that the former ruling Conservative party didn't believe this at all.
But, sadly, Mr. Layton's party also seemed to abandon his ideals and left the hope and optimism to Justin Trudeau. Whatever it was that Tom Mulcair hoped to accomplish, the message that came through appeared to offer little in the way of traditional NDP values, swerving dangerously far right in a vain attempt to siphon votes away from the Liberals and Conservatives.
Yesterday, my country once again embraced hope and optimism - in the personage of the eldest son of our former Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau.
Justin they called him, over and over again; using his first name alone to belittle him. "Just not ready," the Conservative attack ads said, over and over, long before the election campaign even started. The mockery and ridicule were picked up by the NDP in the last weeks, as they saw their support erode, while the Liberals soared.
Mr. Trudeau fils ignored it all and appealed to the better instincts of the Canadian people.
And they responded with hope and optimism.
No comments:
Post a Comment