They came wearing every shade of orange – orange T-shirts, hats, scarves, even shoes. Some came on bikes. Some brought their kids. They stood or sat in the big square outside Roy Thomson Hall, watching the funeral procession on the giant screen in rapt attention.
It was a state funeral for a man of the people – short on pomp, long on populism, carefully crafted by the man who was no longer there. It was emotional, inspiring, personal, and also deeply political. It was partly a celebration of a life well-lived, and partly a call to action. Many of the speakers talked about a different kind of politics, especially of a return to civility.
Outside in the square, people applauded that message. If there is one big lesson from Jack Layton’s death, it’s that Canadians are hungry for a more civil and constructive form of public life. They came to his funeral because Mr. Layton exemplified the best of Canada.
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Related:
Ivison: Layton turns into a legend
Jack Layton Hysteria
OK, Ok, the 3 minutes of silence is over. Nobody says it better than Mark Steyn:
“As I point out in my book, in the last six decades the size of America’s state and local government workforce has increased over three times faster than the general population. Yet Obama says it’s still not enough: The bureaucracy needs even more of our manpower ( student loans will be forgiven if you work for the government). Up north, Canada is currently undergoing a festival of mawkish sub-Princess Di grief-feasting over the death from cancer of the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. Jack Layton’s career is most instructive. He came from a family of successful piano manufacturers – in 1887 H A Layton was presented with a prize for tuning by Queen Victoria’s daughter. But by the time Jack came along the family’s private-sector wealth-creation gene had been pretty much tuned out for good: He was a career politician, so is his wife, and his son. They’re giving him a state funeral because being chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative is apparently more admirable than being chairman of Layton Bros Pianos Ltd.
“Again: Why?
“The piano manufacturer pays for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, not the other way round. The private sector pays for the Manchester rioters and the entire malign alliance of the statism class and the dependency class currently crushing the Western world. America, Britain, Canada and Europe are operating on a defective business model: Not enough of us do not enough productive work for not enough of our lives. The numbers are a symptom, but the real problem, in the excuses for Manchester, in the obsequies in Ottawa, is the waste of human capital.”
Even my leftist friends and family were put off by that nonsense passed off as a state funeral. Of course in typical leftist fashion they were trying to partially blame themselves for their sense of decorum for having taken offense at the funeral’s lack of decorum.
I have always thought that a funeral is the time to get to know the real person that we once loved and shared. If that was the case at Jack’s funeral then I guess Jack was little more than a cardboard cutout used for advertizing purposes.
Re: “Even my leftist friends and family were put off by that nonsense passed off as a state funeral. ”
In my view it wasn’t a funeral — it was a political statement which Jack wanted it to be. That’s fine — it was his funeral and he got his wish. Now it is time to move on.
As Michael Coren noted at the end of the video it will soon be forgotten as reality intrudes in the days ahead. I have no argument with that and I suspect few others will either.
At least Jack did not add to the mockery of the ndp rally by having it in a Church.
At time it reminded me of a holy rollers event. There was not one prayer said. Not one speaker, that I heard, said Rest in Peace. They could have at least had the 23rd Psalm.
I recently went to another funeral, for a 61 yr old farmer, killed when a bale fell on him. It was also held in a hall, no minister, prayer, hymn or anything, just various members of org he had belonged to telling stories of his involvement and how every meeting ended with him buying the beer.
Those that have no faith or religion of any kind, or basic ideas of what a funeral is, I feel sorry for.
He planned his funeral a month ago, is that when he wrote the letter.
I wonder how this so called outpouring of support in TO will affect the election in Oct. Will the ndp try to capitalize on it to win votes.
And I really wonder how many ndp voters and supporters in Canada, who really believe in the cause, (not Jack) were turned off by this spectacle.
The next leader will have a big job trying to take over, and keep those que ndp/bloc MPs. 5 yrs is a long time.
As I said I would do yesterday Jack, I have written about the term “social democracy.” You may or may not want to post it tomorrow. I’ll leave that up to you since it is indirectly about Layton.
Jack was dedicated to making us all servants of the State. More UN, more Kyoto, more redistribution, all in the name of being a “good guy”. He was a creapy socialist. It’s not enough to lament his dedication or principles. The same could be said for Stalin or Mao. If that were the only criterion we’d be having State funerals for mass murderers. Anyone grieving over this reprobate’s life is excusing or, perhaps, championing, the complete annihilation of the individual. People like Layton should be pilloried, not celebrated. But I am not surprised that Canada has become a country of milk-toasts too afraid to speak their minds in the presence of Progressive backlash. Thank goodness for the Christie Blatchfords, Mark Steyns and Ezra Levants.