One doesn't have to support the NDP to realize the legacy of Jack Layton will be with us for years. He took his party from 37 parliamentary seats to 103. He routed the Bloc Quebecois and he captured the imagination of millions of Canadians with his energetic and engaging style.
To be sure, the political planets were all in line for Jack Layton during the May election. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff ran an unfocused, unimaginative campaign, leaving the centre-left voter adrift. As well, Layton stole the scene in both the English and French TV debates.
During the English debate, Layton had a great time with Ignatieff by noting the Liberal leader's sketchy attendance record in the House of Commons.
During the French language debate, the fluently and comfortably bilingual Jack Layton captured the hearts and minds of Quebecers. He was subsequently rewarded with 59 seats in Quebec and post-election evidence shows Quebecers were more interested in Jack Layton as a person than the NDP as a party.
But there was one factor that set Jack Layton apart from other party leaders, it was referred to frequently at his memorial celebration and it appeared in numerous editorials before and after his passing and it was a characteristic that all who seek leadership would do well to follow.
Simply put, Jack Layton was inclusive. Indeed, his political career was focused on bringing others into the mainstream of society.
In the 1980s, as a Toronto City Councillor, Jack sought help for people with AIDS and he was leader in the then budding environmental movement.
During his time in Ottawa, Layton kept with the theme, his policy was to reach out to all Canadians. By any analysis he was a truly engaging political leader and his political success reflected his open, inclusive style.
In politics, being inclusive works. By way of a bit of B.C. political history, former premier W.A.C. Bennett had the same inclusive all-encompassing style. When he spoke about building the party Bennett would say, "Draw the circle ever wider my friends," and he did.
He built the Social Credit Party into a 20-year dynasty with his conviction that political leaders should be as inclusive as possible.
It was not lost on the NDP of the day that during the W.A.C. Bennett administration well over 50 per cent of the BC workforce was unionized yet over 50 per cent of the electorate voted Social Credit. W.A.C. really knew how to appeal to the majority.
Fast forward to recent events and following the HST debacle, it has become increasingly clear that inclusiveness was not Gordon Campbell's strong suit.
Consultation with the public didn't figure in his plans and he paid the price for his stubborn reluctance to acknowledge the importance of open public discussion on public policy matters.
There is a lesson here for all politicians. Inclusiveness counts.
No one knows what the political scene will be in 2015 when Stephen Harper next goes to the people, but if he's smart he'll remember the way Jack Layton used his engaging style to grow support for his party.
Maybe it was because his grandfather was blind, but Jack Layton knew the political process should be one of attracting voters and understanding the concerns of all people, even if you might disagree with their cause, or not fully understand their condition.
Only by open discussion, with civility and honesty can anyone - politicians, or otherwise - begin to accept that the other person may have something important to say.
If we can all practice Jack Layton's inclusiveness and show a genuine interest in others, then he will have left Canada a better place to live.
BCTF negotiating logic
In the May 7, 2010, British Columbia Teachers Federation newsletter, all BCTF members were urged to oppose continuation of the Harmonized Sales Tax. The newsletter noted the promise of $1.6 billion in transitional funding was too much for the B.C. government to resist in the light of BC's deficit. The concluding sentence read, "Tax shifts and cuts are not the answer to reducing the deficit."
One year later the BCTF began negotiations for higher pay and an expensive benefit package.
Following the defeat of the HST, the provincial treasury is facing an additional $3 billion hit and finance minister Kevin Falcon has an increasingly stronger case for deficit reduction as well as sticking to his "net zero" policy for all public sector bargaining groups including teachers.
For the BCTF, we'll call this a lesson in unintended consequences.
