Jack Layton dead
Aug 23rd 2011 | 2:20 am
#16
Assimilated Pauper
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 40,070
From: Ontario
Re: Jack Layton dead
Hey, the Liberals have Bob Ray to guide them temporarily. He, the former NDP turncoat, anything for power genius that brought the residents of Ontario "Ray Days". For those that haven't been here long enough to remember they were days when some folks, mainly public servants, were required to work unpaid. He was even voted Buffalo's Business Booster Of The Year for all the businesses that decamped to there because of his policies. Way to go Bob !
Aug 23rd 2011 | 3:32 am
#17
Beep
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,311
From: Here
Re: Jack Layton dead
It's not really a shock. In his last TV appearance he looked like he was close to death.
It is somewhat ironic that he was killed by the thing that won him so much success in the election. Those of you outside Quebec are likely unaware of a TV show called "Tout le monde en parle". It's a talk show and consistently one of the most-watched shows on TV. Doing well on there is like doing well on Oprah. Jack was on it during the campaign and talked very openly, including about his cancer. He went down extremely well. That one appearance probably won him most of his seats in Quebec.
Here is another piece of irony. A couple of days ago, a First Air 737 crashed near Resolute, which is really in the middle of nowhere. It's so far north, you have to look south to see the Northern Lights.
All but three people on board were killed. The three probably owe their lives to the fact that the crash took place within spitting distance of where the military was carrying out a major training exercise. Troops were on-scene in no time. The irony here is that the exercise was to have included a simulated major plane crash.
What are the odds of crashing an airliner in one the most remote places on earth, right next door to a few hundred soldiers with firefighting equipment and medical facilities?
It is somewhat ironic that he was killed by the thing that won him so much success in the election. Those of you outside Quebec are likely unaware of a TV show called "Tout le monde en parle". It's a talk show and consistently one of the most-watched shows on TV. Doing well on there is like doing well on Oprah. Jack was on it during the campaign and talked very openly, including about his cancer. He went down extremely well. That one appearance probably won him most of his seats in Quebec.
Here is another piece of irony. A couple of days ago, a First Air 737 crashed near Resolute, which is really in the middle of nowhere. It's so far north, you have to look south to see the Northern Lights.
All but three people on board were killed. The three probably owe their lives to the fact that the crash took place within spitting distance of where the military was carrying out a major training exercise. Troops were on-scene in no time. The irony here is that the exercise was to have included a simulated major plane crash.
What are the odds of crashing an airliner in one the most remote places on earth, right next door to a few hundred soldiers with firefighting equipment and medical facilities?
Aug 23rd 2011 | 4:01 am
#19
Dive Bar Drunk
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 8,671
From: Toronto
Re: Jack Layton dead
Of all the party leaders in Canada he was the one I liked the best.
I'll miss him there is not many politicians out there I feel much sentiment for.
I'll miss him there is not many politicians out there I feel much sentiment for.
Aug 23rd 2011 | 8:26 am
#21
Soulless bureaucrat
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 361
From: Ottawa
Re: Jack Layton dead
He seemed like a man of principle to me, a decent human being.
I was saddened by his death.
I was saddened by his death.
Aug 23rd 2011 | 8:32 am
#22
Moderαtor Emeritus
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 30,771
From: Upstate South Carolina
Re: Jack Layton dead
Seemed like, until you looked at some of the detail, like his expense claims($20k a week to travel 300 miles from Ottawa to Toronto for example), and that business with the low income coop housing...(registered in his unemployed MiLs name, despite earning $100k plus at the time)
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...r-power-couple
For a politician though he was one of the better ones.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...r-power-couple
For a politician though he was one of the better ones.
Last edited by iaink; Aug 23rd 2011 at 8:37 am.
Aug 23rd 2011 | 9:31 am
#23
Soulless bureaucrat
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 361
From: Ottawa
Re: Jack Layton dead
Although I see politicians as a cross-section of society. I wonder among BE posters, how many have had an affair, avoided some tax, fiddled their expenses, taken some drugs, told fibs, hold strange religious convictions etc.
If we expect politicians to be somehow more virtuous than the rest of us, then we`ll be sadly disappointed.
Of course, we often don't see the planks in our own eyes when we're judging public figures...
Aug 23rd 2011 | 9:43 am
#24
Moderαtor Emeritus
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 30,771
From: Upstate South Carolina
Re: Jack Layton dead
I will accept any manner of personal failings from a politician, I dont care really if they are faithful to their spouses for example, but if they cant live by the principals they espouse, then why should we trust them with power.
Campaigning about homelessness, while living in subsidised housing, or complaining about government waste and mis-spending while claiming over $1.5 a year in expenses is pretty crap I think.
Still , not the first "do as I say, not as I do" politician, and wont be the last.
Dont get me wrong though, I admired his courage in dealing with his illness, and his unwavering faith that politics can be a positive force and is able to make life better for his fellow canadians.
Aug 23rd 2011 | 9:50 am
#25
Magnificently Withering
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,908
From: Oakville, ON
Re: Jack Layton dead
that's pretty much what I thought. Except that Smith made Labour electable after Foot and Kinnock, and paved the way for Blair, Brown and "New Labour". Who will play Tony Blair to Layton's John Smith? Can't see that Thomas Mulcair is the man of the moment, but stranger things have happened...
Aug 23rd 2011 | 10:25 am
#27
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,244
From: Toronto, ON
Re: Jack Layton dead
that's pretty much what I thought. Except that Smith made Labour electable after Foot and Kinnock, and paved the way for Blair, Brown and "New Labour". Who will play Tony Blair to Layton's John Smith? Can't see that Thomas Mulcair is the man of the moment, but stranger things have happened...
Aug 23rd 2011 | 11:33 am
#28
Thread Starter
Oscar nominated
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 55,309
From: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Aug 23rd 2011 | 12:07 pm
#29
.
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 20,188
Re: Jack Layton dead
that's pretty much what I thought. Except that Smith made Labour electable after Foot and Kinnock, and paved the way for Blair, Brown and "New Labour". Who will play Tony Blair to Layton's John Smith? Can't see that Thomas Mulcair is the man of the moment, but stranger things have happened...
Last edited by Oink; Aug 23rd 2011 at 12:11 pm.
Aug 23rd 2011 | 12:56 pm
#30
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 28,998
Re: Jack Layton dead
Hey, the Liberals have Bob Ray to guide them temporarily. He, the former NDP turncoat, anything for power genius that brought the residents of Ontario "Ray Days". For those that haven't been here long enough to remember they were days when some folks, mainly public servants, were required to work unpaid. He was even voted Buffalo's Business Booster Of The Year for all the businesses that decamped to there because of his policies. Way to go Bob !
He may have lived in a cooperative housing unit, but it was not subsidised. We lived in a co-op in Burlington and only a small percentage were subsidised (I was the co-op's treasurer). Rents/housing fees were based on salary of all members (tenants) in a unit up to a fixed cap.
