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Scott Stinson: Layton biopic is catnip for the anti-CBC lions
The announcement that CBC is working on a Jack Layton biographical movie is sure to ruffle a few feathers on the right. Steve Murray looks at the worse-case scenarios for CBC movies on Layton AND Stephen Harper through the magic of made-up movie posters.
Graeme Hamilton: Lise St-Denis’ defection to the Liberals sign of Quebec’s volatile politics
When voters in the Quebec riding of St-Maurice-Champlain elected Lise St-Denis last May, the ballot listed her as a New Democrat but it might as well have read Team Layton.
A Montreal resident, she had skipped the all-candidates debate, hung no campaign posters and set foot in the riding just once — the Saturday before the May 2 vote. And still, this unknown retiree won the riding by more than 4,500 votes over the Bloc Québécois incumbent.
Ms. St-Denis’ announcement Tuesday that she had jumped to the Liberals is damaging not because her presence will be particularly missed on the NDP benches, but because of what it reveals about the fragile state of her former party in Quebec.
Asked by a reporter in Ottawa whether she was betraying voters who, eight months earlier, elected her under the NDP banner, Ms. St-Denis had a blunt assessment: “They voted for Jack Layton. Jack Layton is dead.”
Facebook Canada unveils ‘Memology 2011′ report
According to Facebook’s “Memology 2011″ report, which was released early Wednesday morning, “Like My Status” or “LMS” was the most discussed item in the status updates of Canada’s 18 million Facebook users this year.
Generation Me, indeed.
It could be worse. Not only did “LMS” top Facebook’s Memology rankings in the United States, but much to the chagrin of English professors everywhere, “TBH” or “To be Honest” ranked No. 2.
Setting aside odd Facebook trends, Canadians devoted more Facebook status updates to the death and memory of the late NDP leader Jack Layton than they did anything else.
Graphic: Giving a name to an NDP-Liberal merger
Like the bard said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet unless genetically spliced with a dandelion.” The bard, of course, was referring to a possible Liberal-NDP merger and what it could mean for names and logos and scents. Steve Murray offers some suggestions.
Jack was is here. Aaron Lynett/National Post
Olivia Chow and Jack Layton’s family. Tyler Anderson/National Post
The funeral service for Jack Layton is underway. Tyler Anderson/National Post
Members of the public wait to attend Jack Layton’s funeral. Tyler Anderson/National Post
Thousands of people have contributed to the chalk wall in tribute of the late Jack Layton. Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images
Live coverage: Speakers honour Layton at Toronto City Hall
It was a sombre homecoming filled with tears and light applause as Jack Layton arrived home to Toronto for the last time Thursday night.
An estimated crowd of 300 lined up for hours behind metal barricades outside Toronto City Hall to catch a glimpse of Layton’s casket arriving back in his hometown of more than 40 years.
The crowd — which was full of grandparents, children, and families — watched as uniformed pallbearers with the Toronto Police Service carried the flag-draped casket into the front doors of City Hall, where Layton worked as a popular councillor for many years before being elected as an MP.
Layton’s casket arrives in Ottawa
Tears flowed Wednesday as Jack Layton arrived in the nation’s capital for the final time.
As a bagpiped lament filled the air, an honour guard of Mounties carried the late NDP leader’s Canadian-flag-draped casket from a hearse into a foyer of Parliament, where he will lie in state for the next two days.
The hearse carrying Layton, who died Monday after his second battle with cancer, arrived from Toronto after an hours-long drive, to a crowd of hundreds who had shown up to pay their respects.
After the RCMP officers put the casket in place in the foyer outside the House of Commons, the line soon began for those giving their condolences to Layton’s wife, MP Olivia Chow, and family, as they also signed the condolences book.
Photo: Members of the RCMP carry the coffin containing Jack Layton into the Center Block of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Aug. 24, 2011. (Patrick Doyle/Reuters)
Friends? Jack Layton had a few
Life for hundreds came to a standstill Tuesday afternoon in sunny Nathan Phillips Square as passers-by stopped at the perimeter of a growing sea of chalk graffiti messages written in honour of Jack Layton, the former NDP leader who died Monday.
A bucket bore a sign “Chalk 4 Jack,” and people added their own messages: “Jack Layton was the reason I started voting,” and “Live by Jack’s example. Don’t agonize — organize.”
The graffiti has spread up the ramp to City Hall’s green roof (Layton would have approved) and now fills perhaps 100 of the square’s two by two-metre concrete paving tiles. Only the journalists walk on the chalk; at 1:30 p.m. about 100 people stood, some eating hot dogs or drinking Pepsi, some on bikes, many with cameras, one with a parasol against the hot sun, reading the hundreds of sendoff notes. Others took up the orange, blue, yellow and green chalk and added their own wishes. (About 50 people were lined up inside City Hall to sign a condolence book, but the graffiti seemed to fit more with the public and effervescent nature of the late leader).
(Photo: Tyler Anderson/National Post)
Chris Selley: More than anything else, Jack Layton believed in Canada
‘He gave his life to this country.” That was Libby Davies, in St. John’s, reacting to Jack Layton’s untimely, star-crossed passing early on Monday morning. You could read her statement two ways. Certainly, there is little in the final version of Mr. Layton’s CV other than public service. It was his life’s labour. But there is also the notion, hardly new this week, that by firing himself out of a cannon into the federal election campaign, fresh off prostate cancer and with a mysteriously broken hip not yet fully healed, he was putting his long-term health at risk. (Illustration by Kagan McLeod)
- Stephen Maher: Layton’s NDP broke Bloc logjam
- Scott Stinson: 10 moments that helped shape Layton’s political career
- John Ivison: Strategic Layton moved party far
- Kevin Libin: The orange crush left behind the NDP’s prairie roots
- Graeme Hamilton: With Layton’s death, Quebec loses un bon Jack
- Tasha Kheiriddin: Layton’s triumphant legacy is still with us
- Jeff Jedras: Layton typified politics’ higher calling
- Matt Gurney: Layton’s loss is bad for the NDP, but may be worse for Canada
- Keith Beardsley: Jack Layton, a decent man who appealed to Canadians
- Kelly McParland: Jack Layton’s passing is a Canadian tragedy
NDP leader Jack Layton’s letter to Canadians
Before his death, Jack Layton wrote a letter to Canadians. Read the full letter.
Kelly McParland: Jack Layton’s passing is a Canadian tragedy
Jack Layton’s election night appearance, carrying his cane and enjoying the cheers that came with his achievement, was unquestionably his greatest moment as a politician. It raised so many possibilities the NDP had rarely contemplated, opening doors most thought were locked to them. And he managed it with such personal integrity and a touch of the commonplace, that much of the country referred to him simply as “Jack,” and didn’t begrudge him his moment.
It’s a tragedy that that shining accomplishment should be followed so swiftly by the cruelty of cancer and his disappearance from the scene. Canadian politics is a lot poorer for the passing of Jack Layton, as is Canada as a whole. He will be greatly missed. (Tyler Anderson/National Post)
