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EDITOR'S DESK

The longest goodbye

by Judi McLeod

February 10, 2003

It's been a long time that Yours Truly has been chasing down Jack Layton through a couple of newspapers.

Since way back in my Toronto Sun column days, I've been watching J.L.

In TorontoFreePress/ CanadaFreePress.com Elm Street offices, cartoons of Layton we've run over the years, command a prominent place on the wall. My favourite dates back to TFP's (then Our Torontos) front page of the premier issue. Jack jumping out of a city limo to which is strapped the famous bicycle he always keeps ready for photo ops.

I know by heart all the signposts along the road in Jacks political career. Who else would remember that it was Ash Wednesday when he tossed his hat into the mayoral ring, challenging June Rowlands? Or that no one was more surprised than the mainline media when she trounced him two to one?

When Jack was caught living in the taxpayer-subsidized Hazleburn co-op, my cheer could be heard all the way to Kingston. There were louder cheers when a group of single moms and their kids held a Kool-Aid and hotdog party coinciding with the Layton announcement that he would finally be leaving the co-op.

There are some that would conclude that Im almost as mesmerized by Layton as his councillor wife Olivia Chow.

To me, Jack Layton always best embodied that cellar resident of Canadian politics--the globe trotting, high spending, social engineering and otherwise meddling municipal politician camped out forever at Small Town City Hall.

God knows, Jack Layton is not the only one.

But the long-suffering City of Toronto has paid for every one of Layton's many excesses.

With an eye on the NDP leadership, Layton first got himself elected as president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. With a gaggle of Toronto City councillors in tow, he was off to Banff. The Louise Comeau-led FCM, which had already made a left hand turn, was about to veer further to the left. To commemorate that event, TFP ran a picture of Layton under the headline Hijacked! In the photo, the councillor was smoking what appeared to be something larger than your average cigarette. (Its okay, Mr. Blaikie, he wasn't inhaling).

Now that he's off to Ottawa, I'm celebrating Toronto's liberation.

Jack is going to need a seat in a hurry and has already made it clear that the federal seat currently held by Liberal MP Dennis Mills would make the easiest pickings.

Mills beat Layton hands-down in 1997's federal election and should be able to do the same in the next one. Problem is there are rumours that some kind of deal between the two would see Mills in the Senate and Layton in his seat. While we're hoping there is no substance to the rumours, Liberals and NDP seem to like to cozy up on deals when the agenda includes political advancement.

For anyone interested, I am preparing for a small Heads Up, Ottawa party.

No party is really appropriate without a guest of honour, so Jack and Olivia will be sent an emailed invitation.

Even three weeks later, no Jack in Toronto still seems almost too good to be true.

For those sad to see him go, there's a permanent skyline reminder of him, the $2 million wind turbine at the CNE grounds. The Jack-Layton inspired wind machine, like a symbolic giant finger to his city constituents, is the first in Canada to be built in an urban area.

Meanwhile, adios Jack. Don't let the door bump your butt on the way out of T.O.


Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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