Canada has lost a good one.
Jack Layton is gone too quickly and our country will be lessened with his departure.
I found myself in a rather privileged and unique situation a number of years ago when I had the opportunity to interview Jack Layton and Preston Manning in near back-to-back fashion ... meaning just a few weeks or maybe it was months apart ... my memory isn't THAT good.
I recall thinking at that time that here were two men who were on absolute opposite ends of the Canadian political spectrum at the time and walking away from the encounters feeling pretty good about Canada's chances of moving forward with guys like them helping us out.
Layton was vying for the NDP leadership position at the time and I thought that with his eagerness, infectious personality and a bag full of great ideas, he was going to contribute pretty substantially to the party if he got the post he was looking for.
Manning was so like-minded that I had to stop and think hard about how these two men could be so polar opposite on the political scale and yet be on the same page in so many ways.
That was one of those defining days when I scrutinized my own job and first of all, considered myself lucky to have been put in the position where I could talk one-on-one with these two and then I began to question my abilities as an interviewer. Maybe I hadn't asked the right questions to draw out their differences and true political philosophies and visions for Canada. But hey, half this gig is just letting people talk and let's face it, most politicians do that remarkably well. Some don't even require an opening question of any significance to launch their rhetoric. Layton and Manning knew that game and an interviewer was simply there to make them switch tracks every three or four minutes. Otherwise it was their game with the universal rules.
As I was recalling moments within that interview with Jack Layton after hearing about his death in the early morning hours Monday, I smiled because one of the memory bank moments included a little note I took at the start of the session.
Jack Layton needed a haircut that day. The usually dapper, neatly appointed candidate for leader was looking a little scruffy around the collar on that particular mid-morning and that image stuck in my memory because it wasn't typical.
Just one of those tiny snapshots in time that you can look back on with a smile as we wave goodbye.
There was nothing scruffy about Jack Layton's personality and abilities.
So while I was recalling the Manning/Layton experience, I couldn't help but expand the thought process that had started with "how can these two guys be on opposite ends when they think so much alike?" to come to the realization that sometimes those of us who observe just have to sit back and observe and sometimes it doesn't require having to come to a conclusion. I still haven't come to any conclusion about my thoughts and feelings about Layton and Manning.
I'd like to call it being open minded. We don't all require a solid stance on all subjects, do we?
I mean I could never make my mind up about a single desk or dual marketing Canadian Wheat Board if my life depended on it. I'm glad I'm not a Prairie farmer when that subject comes up. I've heard the arguments from both sides and they are both compelling.
Nuclear power, private health care paid for with the public purse? There are many subjects that we love to debate but don't necessarily have a definite answer.
I guess that's why we hired guys like Jack Layton to help us sort them out. The guy represented stuff that could be good about politics.
