On Layton and Inspiration

Last week, Jack Layton died.  Memories of a decent man and politician seemed to focus on a smile, a sense of optimism, and some sense of comradeship as befits a sympathetic leader of a leftist party with lingering union ties.

I never had occasion to vote for the man, as his riding is not mine. But I was nonetheless moved by Canada’s reaction to his passing.

The Globe and Mail saw an appetite for politicians who inspire. It’s easy to focus on that when the politician provoking the question is never again to speak a word, political or otherwise. I agree nonetheless. I’m all for a politics based on vision, perhaps cynically because vision should show that a politician is capable of looking past next week, or ideally past the next election.

I didn’t see that in Jack. For all the good people saying they saw in him (posthumously, at least) a man of vision, I haven’t heard anyone strongly articulate what that vision was. I can’t say I have any sense at all of what Canada might have been like after two terms of Layton government.

But he did evidently inspire some folks. And better still, he provoked some soul-searching in a great many Canadians who articulated a desire for more visionary politics in his wake. I hope they get their wish.

On Canada, Present and Future

“The world needs more Canada” is a cute line one can read splattered on the walls of major bookstores in Canada. Perhaps the world does.  But perhaps Canada needs to do more for the world to have Canada spring to mind when considering its needs. Maybe when Pearson dreamt up peacekeeping it was more top-of-mind all around, or when Canuck soldiers killed and were killed in some of the more useful or futile battles in Western Europe in one or another world war.

Perhaps it’s false nostalgia on my part to look back to semi-mythologized moments in history and idealize in them a nobler, generous, conspicuously able Canada, as they’re older than my oldest memories. So what? I’m an idealist, and I want my country to live up to the finest ideals I can grasp, even if the roots of some seem to borrow as much from Canadian Heritage Minutes as from my own experience. It’s my country. I want it that good.

So: what am I here to do? Peer at the government with a really, really long view. When I vote, it’s not for next week, it’s for the next decade at least. I hope to look at the occasional policy idea being mooted in Canada, and toss in a few ideas I either came up with or grew attached to when I heard smarter folks say them.

I haven’t joined any political party, and I doubt any party will come asking for me (line forms to the left!). Perhaps I have enough thoughts worth sharing. So long as I feel that’s true, I’ll write.