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Jack
Layton's Vision
 Today,
I'm launching my campaign to become the leader of Canada's New Democratic
Party.
Let me thank the wonderful
friends who are here in support today for their words.
When this six month
leadership race is completed, Canada is going to experience a forceful
and re-energized New Democratic Party.
That's because we're
building a movement for justice and jobs in a green and democratic Canada.
Tens of thousands
of people are going to join in this building project as new New Democratic
Party members.
We are going
to work together.
We're going
to challenge the way things are.
We are going to propose
solutions.
Canadians are going
to sit up and take notice.
Today I am launching
my campaign to become leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada.
Once this leadership
race finishes in six-months time, Canada will be introduced to a New Democratic
Party that has been infused with renewed strength and energy.
This is because we
are in the process of building a movement for justice and jobs in a green
and democratic Canada.
Thousands of citizens
will join this construction project as new members of the NDP.
We will listen to
each other.
We will work together.
We will challenge the status quo.
We will propose solutions.
Canadians are going
to listen and will sit up and take notice.
Today, I'm here to
answer a simple question: "Why are you running, Jack?"
I've had twenty years
in public life. I've listened to many people. Their stories have convinced
me that this new agenda for justice and jobs, for a green and democratic
Canada is needed now more than ever.
A couple of years
ago, I got a call from a woman in my constituency. She felt awful because
she thought she'd made a terrible mistake. She was calling me from a homeless
shelter. She said, "Jack, I didn't know what to do. My daughter had
been accepted into community college after working so hard. I am so proud
of her. It was September and her tuition fees had to be paid so that she
could go to class. But our rent was due, Jack. I couldn't afford both
the rent and the tuition. So I paid for my daughter's school and I prayed
that the landlord would somehow take pity or support us. A few days later
we were evicted from our home! Now my daughter has to study in this cramped
shelter and we have no hope of housing at all."
I said to myself:
"What the hell is going on!?"
Here in rich Canada,
a mother having to choose between high tuition and high rents and she
ends up on the street? And she thought she had done something wrong. She
thought this was somehow her fault. Well, it wasn't her fault!
It was our government,
in this building behind us, that did something wrong, not this mother
who called me!
We used to care about
equality, about rights to affordable housing, rights to education in this
country.
Where did that Canada
go?
I'll tell you where:
At about the same time that the mother called me about her eviction, I
was in the Prime Minister's office with 10 Mayors from our biggest cities,
fighting on behalf of 1,000 municipalities to get Ottawa back into the
business of affordable housing
Well, Jean Chretien
told us that he had "lost interest" in the affordable housing
issue.
He had "lost
interest!"
I'm not kidding.
Well, because he "lost
interest," a homeless man, named Eugene Upper, froze to death in
a bus shelter, one block from my home.
Two more homeless
men died within a week.
How many have died
since?
Incredible in such
a rich country.
The Liberals lost
interest.
Well, Canadians get
the feeling that Jean Chretien has lost interest in most of us.
Farm families in the
west think so. They're suffering under a terrible drought AND battling
George Bush's subsidies to his farmers.
I was talking to the
Mayor of Moose Jaw yesterday and he told me that they all feel that the
federal government just doesn't consider a million Canadians in Saskatchewan
important.
You're damn right
they're important. And as president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities,
I worked with Canada's smallest communities because they're important.
And as leader of the
NDP, I'll fight for them again. Because whatever the size of your community,
your family's the same size.
My son Mike has asthma,
like a lot of kids - especially in cities - these days.
Mike got a job as
a camp counsellor in the summer. Well, I'll never forget the time that
within a day of Mike coming back from the clean air of Ontario's north,
I was standing beside him in the emergency ward as the doctor put on the
third oxygen mask, because the smog had brought his asthma to critical
levels. The doctor told me "you're lucky you brought him in here
in time." It was the scariest moment a parent can have.
I was lucky, because
each year, the parents or kids of 5,000 Canadians lose a loved one thanks
to smog. And what do we get?
The occasional speech.
Well, as a parent,
I'm fed up.
As a citizen, I'm
fed up.
We should all be fed
up.
There are solutions.
Canadians - community
groups, unions, environmental businesses - have some of the best solutions,
but our government barely acknowledges them. We can build a healthy, green,
economic policy. I know we can do this. I've been involved in some of
the projects that can pave the way.
Canadians have built
many wonderful things together before - from railroads, to medicare; from
cities the world envied to vast resource economies; the CBC, Public Education.
But the Liberals aren't
building any more.
Here we are, in front
of the Parliament buildings. This is where we are supposed to be working
to build this country, making it a leader in the world.
But these Parliament
buildings seem to me a lot more like a rudderless ship. The captain and
his former first mate are locked in the death throws of internal mutiny.
Their egos are billowing and bickering in the wind.
So Canadians are left
floundering. They are left on their own by their very own government.
Just ask Jamie Lim,
mayor of Timmins, in Northern Ontario and Mayor Colin Kinsey of Prince
George, BC.
They had just had
the most devastating news a mayor could have - George Bush and his government
were going to kill jobs in their towns by slapping a duty and financial
penalties on Canadian softwood products. Jobs were evaporating and the
towns were facing economic strangulation.
Thousands of families
were going to lose their bread-winners. These are small towns. They can't
afford thousands of families being laid off. These Canadian workers have
had their jobs stolen by George Bush.
Their mayors were
desperate. But did Jean Chretien call up Bush and say "enough is
enough"? No way. I was president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities
at the time, and we helped them form a national action team with cities
and towns of all sizes supporting them.
So much for Free Trade
deals!
We were told these
trade deals were going to solve our problems.
Just as we were told
that the Canada Pension Plan should be given over to the stock market!
(Funny, I don't hear the Alliance saying that today!)
But I still see their
friends - the ones who sold us the trade deals - now want to buy our health
care … They want to bring Enron into the ER!
This has to stop.
We can stop these dangerous moves by our government and their friends.
If we work together,
we can build movements for change and for democracy in our Country.
I have always been
moved by the tenacity and dedication of the women's movement in the face
of inequality in our country.
Never more so than
after the Montreal Massacre, when women and women's organizations redoubled
their efforts in the face of such a terrible assault.
I think back to Montreal
and the polytechnic school there. That is where I met my dear friend Thérèse
Daviau for the first time in 1993. Together with the families of other
young women who were gunned down in front of their friends that fateful
day, Thérèse established an organization to combat violence
against women. This group adopted the white ribbon as its symbol; the
same symbol that chosen by the men.
Our meeting was one
full of emotion.
Thérèse
said to me, "Why, why? Jack, we must work together to fight the forces
in society that led to my daughter's death.
The years passed,
and now even Thérèse is no longer with us.
But I promise you,
Thérèse, that I will never forget your pain, nor will I
ever forget your heart.
Due to the spirit
and tenacity of people like Thérèse, a lot of people around
the world dedicate themselves every year to putting an end to violence
against women.
This is also way some
men have joined me in creating an organization that will allow the male
voice to be heard in this challenge. It is called the White Ribbon Campaign,
and today exists in many countries around the world.
So after 20 years
in public life, I've learned that Canadians want
Justice and Jobs in
a green and democratic Canada.
Energy, leadership,
and a commitment to put these issues on the Canadian agenda.
That's what a Jack
Layton campaign is all about.
I invite all Canadians
who share my enthusiasm for this country, but who also share my concerns,
to join me and the NDP.
You will be in the
forefront of campaigns for change.
But they're campaigns
we can win because this government is losing the confidence of Canadians.
That's why the winds
of change are circling in the political skies, and they are about to fill
our sails.
Let's hoist that mainsail.
Let's take up our
positions.
Let's grab hold of
the rudder.
And let's steer this
beautiful country towards the 21st century with enthusiasm and purpose.
Did you know
this about Jack Layton?
- People with learning,
visual, hearing and mobility disabilities have benefited as a result
of inclusive municipal policies (accessibility bylaws, hiring practices)
and new decision-making structures (the City of Toronto's Action Comittee
for People with Disabilities, formed in the 1980s) actively promoted
by Jack.
- Jack helped
establish Toronto's Multicultural Access Program in 1991, ensuring
better access to services and information and helping to reshape the
city's workforce to better reflect diversity through municipal employment
equity policies
- Jack helped
develop Canada's first municipally sponsored AIDS Defense Strategy
and supported development of Casey House hospice in Toronto
- Jack was a founder
and is co-chair of the national White Ribbon Campaign of men working
to end men's violence against women.
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