The latest embarrassment surrounds a faked Citizenship Ceremony created in Sun TV’s Toronto studios last October, because for some mysterious reason, covering the 13 already-scheduled swearing in ceremonies around the city for new Canadians was not good enough.

It didn’t start out as a faked event ….but became one when not enough “real” new Canadians could be found to take part.  So six federal bureaucrats stood in, along with three legitimate newcomers, taking part in the Sun studio ceremony and faked taking the Oath of Citizenship.

Incredible!

To be fair, at one point the network was going to cancel the ruse, but then decided to go ahead after the federal officials said six stand-ins had been found to take part and make it look real.

“Let’s do it. We can fake the Oath,” wrote a still unnamed buy apparent Sun media official in a sunmedia.ca  e-mail later obtained by The Canadian Press.

Lately, the whole disgraceful event has been the subject of political charges and accusations, pitting the Opposition against Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and embarrassed federal officials.

But frankly, MY main concern is with SUN MEDIA.

I find it outrageous that the newtwork went along with the ruse and aired the faked footage.

How could ANY news organization do that????

What it shows me is a complete disrespect for journalistic ethics, their own news product and, most of all, their viewers!

And according to the Toronto Star, this was not the first time Canada’s newest news network has been caught leaving truth and ethics out of its reports.  In November, a photo of Sun employees posing with Toronto’s mayor was PHOTOSHOPPED to take out an anchore who no longer worked for the network and ADD in a new Sun TV host.

Geez!

And making it all worse, although the politicians are all flailing about over the government’s role in the latest faked news item, Sun officials have had very little to say about their disgraceful action.

Or perhaps they don’t even think it’s newsworthy.

Just the new norm we can expect from Sun TV … unless some other media blows their cover?

Harv Oberfeld

Opponents of ANY tar sands oil extraction activity will celebrate along with environmental activists who oppose ANY pipelines, whether through the U.S. to Texas for refining or through the Coastal range to Canada’s Pacific for export by tanker. Keystone supporters will mourn, briefly, before looking at some other way to get around the Obama administration’s negative ruling.

And then, there’s the “To hell with the U.S., let’s teach them a lesson and ship our oil to China … that’ll show ‘em!”.

I must admit, the latter was my initial response to Obama’s announcement But I’ve been thinking….

It WOULD feel good to tell the Americans to shove off: you don’t want our oil, then it’s YOU who will suffer and we’ll just sell it to the Commies … probably at premium prices,too!

And frankly, much to the chagrin of many of those who read this blog, I have no aversion to a pipeline to the coast …. IF every reasonable precaution is taken to make it as environmentally safe as possible.

The knee-jerk naysayers may hate it, but I’ll bet they all love all those petroleum products/by-products they use every day and in more ways then they even imagine. And not only oil product consumers, but those enjoying the thousands of jobs … directly and indirectly … that come from serving and servicing the tar sands’ extraction industry, its needs, equipment, services, staffing and shipping want to get that oil out… via the coast, if necessary.

And yet, I don’t believe Canada should now rush to the “China solution”.

Let’s face it: almost everything we see unfolding politically in the US right now … and for the next 10 months… is almost TOTALLY election-related.  Obama didn’t like the way the Republicans sttached the Keystone 60-day deadline approval rider to the Bill that extended middle-class tax cuts: that’s WHY he rejected the project.

Wait until AFTER the November election and, if Obama gets his second term, I’d bet he’ll find some way of giving the go-ahead to the project with some sort of face-saving alterations.  And if Obama, loses the Keystone project will get the go-ahead from the Republicans before White House stationery is changed!

So why rush to signing some very long-term huge commitment to China?

That would no doubt anger the Americans (stop cheering the idea!),  interfere in the US election campaign .. and probably hurt Canada’s trade relations with the US in the long run, regardless of who captures the White House in November.  And we saw during the softwood lumber dspute how nasty the Americans can be, even when court ruling after court ruling came out in Canada’s favour.

And according to Stats Canada, Canadian exports in 2011 (to the end of Nov) to China totalled $19 Billion … and to the US,  more than $300 Billion.  So would it really be a good thing for Canada to antagonize its largest trading partner?  Answer that, not from the heart, but as if YOUR job depended on it.

Patience must triumph over passion.

Prime Minister Harper had already warned Canada would not become a “captive supplier” to the US, and he is right.  Canada should sell SOME of its oil to China, but we will not benefit in the long term by entering into huge long-term contracts with China for the bulk of our oil/natural gas.

This is a good time, however, for Harper to squeeze Obama for better access by Canadian companies/suppliers to public infrastructure projects south of the border …  which have become more and more protectionist under the Democrats …. in return for a Canadian go-slow policy on oil market alternatives.

That would be the smartest way to proceed.

But wouldn’t it be nice to see at least some sort of signing ceremony featuring Canada and Chinese energy corporations or our governments signing a new trade agreement for oil … and shaking hands enthusiastically in front of the two countries’ flags.

We’d probably even make the US Evening News … without a hockey stick in sight.

Harv Oberfeld

At their weekend convention, according to The Vancouver Sun, the “new” Liberals actually reasoned that “a new spirit of openness and a policy in favour of legalizing and pot will help breathe life into the Liberal Party in Western Canada”.

What an insult!

I’m surprised they didn’t also pass motions saying the Libs LOVE wheat, oil,  salmon, samosas and dim sum … to really reach out to the West in 2012.

Do they think we didn’t notice that when the subject of giving BC and Alberta our DESERVED RIGHT to additional Commons seats, the Libs weren’t exactly defending our rights?

From the Windsor Star Jan 3: “The NDP and Liberals criticized the bill for relying on the population formula and for the speed at which it was rushed through Parliament and the Senate before receiving royal assent.”

Well, we already knew the federal NDP had sold out BC and the West during the last election, as Jack Layton promised Quebec anything and everything it wants, including more seats if BC got more seats, and BC’s NDP MPs and candidates not only went along with that, but actually defended the outrage.    Of course that worked in Quebec … just the way favoring the East, at the cost of fairness in the West, has always worked for federal parties down East.

But where were the Liberals?  Certainly not defending BC rights or justice or fair play.

In fact, when a Francophone NDP MP from New Brunswick also pushed a Private Member’s Bill that would have made sure almost no Westerners could ever qualify in the future for nomination to Canada’s Supreme Court by requiring expert level bilingualism for all new appointees, the Liberals joined the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois and voted FOR that Bill.

The unofficial  Commons Coalition to Screw the West (Liberals, NDP, Bloc Quebec) succeeded in the House…. overwhelming the Conservative minority government and passed the legislation.  The only thing that stopped it from becoming law was the Tory majority in the oft-maligned, but in this case, West-saving Senate.  (Perfect example of why we should keep the Senate …until our democracy truly gives the West its fair share of power in Ottawa!)

And what about the recent contracts to build new coast guard and navy vessels … contracts awarded by the Tory government to BC and Nova Scotia firms …  based totally on independent assessments of costs and technical merit,  without ANY POLITICAL  INTERFERENCE.  Does anyone really believe the Liberals would have carried out the process that way????

Do the federal Liberals think we don’t know about all this … about how the ACT back East … compared to what they SAY out West?

And they think saying they would legalize pot (which they wouldn’t do anyway, because the Americans would shut the border tighter than a drum) is the key to winning BC votes!

Maybe they should start Keeping It Real and read more BC and Western Canada blogs.

Harv Oberfeld

Just going back as far as World War II is bad enough to get the point.  Our treatment of Japanese CANADIANS in interning them without cause and stealing most of their possessions was shameful to put it mildly; our turning away of Jewish refugees (and even sending many back to their deaths in Europe) was an anti-Semitic blot on our history; and our subsequent failure to expeditiously pursue war criminals who made it here was not our shining moment.

Not to mention those aboriginal residential schools,  our second-rate treatment of Asian immigrants, and the racial discrimination practiced for too many decades in jobs and appointments, our residential neighbourhoods, social clubs and even our supposed institutions of higher learning.

It still bothers me to think about this stuff … and although I am fortunately too young to have witnessed most of it, I do remember …je me souviens … as we said where I grew up in Montreal,  Quebec some of thes realities.  In fact, on this blog I wrote “Memories” in 2008 about my personal experience witnessing what a wonderful black man named Sweeney … Oscar Peterson’s brother-in-law… went though at the hands of the oh-so-proper White Upper Crust English Montrealers when he just tried to run a neighborhood restaurant.

Thankfully, though, things have improved greatly almost everywhere in our land: discrimination and racism is seen for the silliness it is; anti-semitism is relegated to the idiot-fringe; huge waves of Asian immigration have been absorbed without many problems, and welcome additions to our dining delights; and if Sikhs and Muslim immigrants experience any new-culture challenges, they seem more often to be internally-generated rather than externally applied.

Except in Quebec.

I still remember, moving to my first newspaper job at the Saskatoon Star Phoenix in 1969, how surprised I was to find the city’s mayor, Sid Buckwold, was Jewish.  How could that be, I wondered? Co-workers were appalled at the question … until I explained that, in Montreal, an English person …let alone someone who is Jewish..could NEVER be elected Mayor.

Sadly, 40 years later, THAT IS STILL THE CASE in Montreal and Quebec.  An Anglo or Jew or Chinese or Muslim or Black could NEVER today be elected mayor of Montreal or Quebec City or Premier of Quebec. With very rare exceptions, Quebec minorities are still largely electable only in communities where their ethnic minorities exist in larger numbers.

It’s a reality we in BC thought Canada had left behind decades ago. It was 40 years ago that Dave Barrett was elected Premier of BC without his Jewish religion being an issue at all. We’ve had mayors and MLAs and MPs elected from virtually every minority without their ethnicity being an issue of any kind.

But a minority member becoming Mayor of Montreal or Quebec City  or Premier … even now …. NON! Impossible!

And yet no one says anything.  After all, it’s Quebec.

In fact, students of history will know that minorities actually were treated and accepted better in Quebec two hundred years ago than they are now. The province actually led in passing laws granting voting rights to Jews, for instance. But while there has been progress among Quebecois in the higher-educated sectors of  urban society on some parts of the Island of Montreal,  much of Quebec … especially rural areas …  remains isolationist and unwelcoming.

Many will remember how, in 2007, the town of  Herouxville way up the St. Lawrence River past Quebec City, adopted a set of STANDARDS warning any ”new arrivals” who might dare to think of moving there that they must NOT bring their home country lifestyles to Herouxville! “We consider that killing women in public beatings or burning them alive are not part of our standards of life,”  the City Fathers warned.

“And the only time you can cover your faces is during Halloween,”   they added.  What Ignoramuses!!!  The rest of us may have laughed, and condemned …but, in my view,  the good people of Herouxville, Quebec had made themselves quite clear; foreigners with any “foreign ways” not wanted.

Can you imagine if a BC community passed such warnings?  The BC government, the federal government, the Canadian Human Rights Commission … probably even the UN …would have raked them over the coals.  But it was Quebec: so we just “tsk tsk”ed and did nothing.

An anomaly?   Unfortunately not.

Gatineau, Que. is a suburb of Ottawa that owes MUCH of its economic development and residential growth to its proximity to the nation’s capital. And along with that growth have come ethnic minorities, and (YIKES!) immigrants from far-flung lands.  … all part of the modern Canadian modern mosaic.

Most of us wouldn’t bat an eye. Yet just recently, the City of Gatineau released a 16-point , FUNDED by the Quebec provincial government, warning newcomers not to cook “smelly” foods, not to carry out “honour” killings etc., not to brutalize their children etc.   What imbeciles!  (Fortunately the Quebec experts left out any reference to where to park your camels!)

Again, no outcry from our “leaders” who would have raked over the coals (justifiably) any BC or Alberta community that issued such a demeaning, 1930′s type document.

The truth is today that horrible racist view by Francophone Quebeckers that only they are ”pure lain” (pure wool …ie real Quebeckers) still applies in much of Quebec society: outsiders (non French-speaking, non-Catholic, non-white) … are still not accepted as equals …. even those with family roots going back 200 years.

And with no one calling Quebec on the issue, it’s NOT getting better.

Ask black Haitian immigrants who thought they’d be welcome as French-speaking additions to Quebec society.  Not!  When many … like immigrants everywhere … got started in their new land taxi drivers,  taxi companies soon came to understand when callers asked for “un bon chauffeur” (a good driver) they meant a WHITE driver.

This is not to say, of course, thast there aren’t bigots elsewhere too …but in Quebec, it is still respectable and acceptable to express ethnic ignorance and bias.

That’s why in recent weeks, there was public outrage … not opposed, but actually  LED by the Quebec French media because, tabernacle, the Canadiens hired a coach who doesn’t speak French.

Now, you might have thought the only real criteria for hiring an NHL coach is that he (or she) have the capability of taking the team to the Stanley Cup.  Not in Quebec!  No matter that ALL the Canadien hockey players today speak/understand English or that only a few are even of French origin: the Canadiens coach, according to many, must not only speak French but should BE French.

Apparently, that’s more important than winning.

That, sadly, is the truth of Quebec today … and if you pay attention to what they say down there, you’ll hear/see a lot of racism and xenophobia openly expressed ….  and just taken for granted.

It’s time for the “leaders” in our society to start standing up against it.

Harv Oberfeld

But what?

We thumb through the catalogues, search the flyers, actually read the newspaper ads and find ourselves inundated with TV ads for the latest toys…for kids and adults.

Canadians will spend $40 Billion or more this holiday season…. estimates say well over $600 each.

But almost all of it on goods made overseas.

Of course, most of us would prefer to buy goods Made in Canada.  Imagine the benefits and impact on our economy is we all did that!  Not to mention the feel-good impact on ourselves.

But what?

Sure, there’s maple syrup, some (not all) hockey equipment or a car, truck or tractor.  Or…..?

Help me out …and help other blog readers out: let’s put together some suggestions HERE on Canadian-made products to give as gifts … so we can ALL celebrate a better Holiday season.

Our economy and our Canadian workers will appreciate that.

And by the way, Merry Christmas (yes, Christmas …not Xmas … to those who celebrate it), Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwaanza, Happy New Year!

Any suggestions?

Harv Oberfeld

We have long seen individual politicians, from every party, end up in the dog house or court for individual campaign violations or corruption or scandal.  But NOW, the entire federal Conservative Party has pleaded GUILTY to illegal campaign spending … and here’s the worst part, the guily plea came after four YEARS of denying any wrongdoing, saying they did nothing wrong and now admitting the party filed FALSE election spending reports.

And … hard to believe (or maybe not!) after admitting guilt and paying $52,000 in FINES under a plea-deal , the Tories issued a press release suggesting the outcome was actually “a big victory”!!!

Why?”  Because under the agreement with prosecutors and the Crown, no individuals faced personal charges for doing anything wrong.

Ahh!  So thats it … no individuals did anything wrong … R2D2 did it …. some Tory robot or living amoeba within the “party apparatus” made the decisions to break the laws on election spending, then actually sent out the advertising orders, and wrote the cheques.  Wow! 

Who ever said the Conservatives were “old fashioned”? Seems to me they have secret technology that Apple, Google and Microsoft may want to seek out.

And if you want more details on the charges that were withdrawn against four powerful Tory officials, including two Senators, have a look at the Blog done on the fiasco by former CBC journalist Nick Filmore .. called A Different Point of View.  Lots of really interesting coverage there.

However, my biggest concern is what this all says to the voters. 

Even those of us who are staunch believers in the democratic system, Parliamentary democracy, and realize people are responsible for their individual actions will fund it hard to explain this one  to non-voters.

When the party itself lies, deceives and denies  for FOUR YEARS  … but then pleads guilty to criminal wrongdoing, the damage to efforts to get more people engaged in our  our entire political system is substantial.

Shame on the federal Conservative Party.

But they didn’t get away with it … and municipal election parties  hsve no official links to their federal counterparts,  so I’ll still say it: Saturday, PLEASE, get out and vote.

Harv Oberfeld

I saw that personally while covering Parliament Hill, when Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney overruled all technical assessments and recommendations and evaluations that favored Winnipeg, to instead award the multi-billion maintence contracts for Canada’s new CF-18 fighter planes to Quebec.

And neither the Official Opposition Liberals nor totally Western-propped up NDP raised much of as peep.

I could understand why the Liberals … basically an Eastern Canada party at that time… said little, but I was particularly disgusted with Ed Broadbent and the NDP who, despite my pushing, would not condemn this screwing of the West, probably for fear of alienating Quebec.

As I said, it has been a Canadian tradition … when it comes to really big decisions … the West’s role has been one of “assuming the position” while Quebec and Ontario share the spoils.

Harper has changed that …at least in the case of the shipbuilding contracts.

The decision-making process was done so fairly, I don’t even object to Halifax getting the vast majority of the contracts, $25 Billion .. compared to $8 Billion for BC.

Because, again, it was done fairly.

All the evaluations, technical assessments and cost calculations were done by top civil servants, overlapping panels of professionals  and third-party independent experts … all supervised by “fairness monitor” who apparently scrupulously ensured all deliberations were carried out fairly.

“Fairly”!!!!!  In awarding billions of federal bucks!!!

And all without any “ministerial input” or cabinet “suggestions”.

In fact, the final decision makers didn’t even know which company (or province) was home to which bid: the comparative analyses were lettered merely “A”, “B” and “C”.

And Harper and the federal cabinet went along with the recommended contract awards without “adjustment” or over-ruling.

Bravo!

Of course, Quebec’s Davie shipyards will get some work, some spending …in a support role … and why not.   There will be a lot of work to go around and all Canadian companies engaged in the shipbuilding industry should enjoy some of the spoils.

But the fact that the two MAJOR contracts went to Nova Scotia and BC … after being judged without political interference, makes Canadian history.

And deserves to be noted and praised.

Of course, the Parti Quebecois will try to make hay over this “slap” to Quebec and will play this card over and over in the next provincial election, due before December 2013.

But that just makes the bravery of Harper and the Tories on this issue more laudable and noteworthy.

Kudos to them.

Harv Oberfeld

The economic system is broken …and only massive continual public pressure and protests will finally force governments to respond and start primarily representing those who elect them and not those will finance their campaigns.

And what I find most interesting is how the mainstream media in Canada have all fallen in line with their US counterparts, reporting the rebellion as starting in New York, on Wall Street …and then spreading to other cities, including Vancouver.

Not!

The middle class rebellion BEGAN IN BC.

We called in the fight against the HST …but as it progressed and the facts became clear, the HST battle was no doubt the loudest shot ever fired in the middle class’s war against over-taxation, oppression and exploitation.

Think about it.  At first, the main motivating factor may have been the way the tax was brought in; and the media reported it as such …just as the government and corporate community wanted.

And then came the propaganda … loads of it, suggesting the hated tax was revenue neutral and actually good for everyone in BC.

BUT as more and more information became available, it became clear the tax was NOT revenue neutral at all … but a  hit, mostly on the middle class, and that’s when the uprising really gained strength.

It was battle royale …the middle class against the government, big business and their media mouthpieces, punditsand propagandists who almost daily campaigned for the HST.

What I found most amusing…and appalling…is how so many in the media claimed during the campiagn the cost to the average taxpayer was actually relatively small…but after the tax was defeated, the same voices began to make it sound like every government program, plan and service would now face a truly dreadful time because of all the huge lost extra revenues.

How can these “journalists” and pundits look at themselves in the mirror and not be ashamed?

But when the history of the Rebellion of 2011 is written, the vote against the HST will finally gets due … recognized as the FIRST major UPRISING by the middle class against our ever-increasing tax burdens.

Make no mistake about it …the Occupy protests are just part of a continuing rebellion: a peaceful one, but an uprising nonetheless by thousands … including many who have never demonstrated or protested before.

The “people” want not only fair taxes, but fair jobs as well: fulltime jobs, complete with benefits …ending big businesses penchant for hiring only “part-time” workers…even hundreds or thousands of them …to get around paying benefits.

And government has to stop encouraging them to avoid hiring full-time employees: the federal and provincial governments should increase the tax brackets of firms that exceed 10 per cent part-time employees … to reflect the added burden they place on government and  the taxpayers for unfunded social services/pensions required by those companies …some of which measure their profits in the millions.

As someone who spent so much of my life in the media, I can understand why not too many of my colleagues can see the link right now between the HST fight and the Occupy protests.

There is a big difference between “News” and “History” and the stories they tell can be quite different: the first recounts the happenings of the day, week or sometimes even month; the latter is perspective hindsight … a year or more later … when not only events, but also their ultimate influence can be measured.

And when the history of this year’s middle class rebellion across North America is written, perceptive analysts should pay special attention to what happened in BC in 2011.

And the war must not stop with the Occupy protests: middle class families, organizations and young people MUST keep up the pressure on governments to make sure they understand: the squeeze on the center must be stopped; corporations and the wealthiest must pay their fair share of taxes …and the free ride some of the biggest profit-makers must come to an end.

No matter what the government and their media mouthpieces say.

Harv Oberfeld

Celement was not only “on deck”  at the head of Treasury Board when $48 Million was diverted from border security funds to some VERY questionnable infrastructure projects in his own Muskoka riding (more than 100 miles from the border)  during the G-8 summit.

That’s not $50,000 or $500,000 or even $5 million of YOUR money … but $50 Million in pork-barrelling wasteful and disgraceful mis-appropriation of public finds ….   and trust.   By the HEAD of Canada’s Treasury Board!!!

The projects included an Olympic size hockey arena and aquatics facility,    fancy downtown gazebo and public toilets in  areas nowhere near any summit meetings or sites.

And now, the NDP  Opposition has come with several e-mails that purportedly show Clement personally interfered in the process and did end runs around “all normal checks and balances” that usually cover large federal spending decisions.

And when the Ontario Provincial Police raised questions about the way money was being spent, Clement wrote the local mayor telling him the Prime Minister’s Office was furious …not at the mispend

It stinks, it’s terrible …but nothing will happen.

Why? Because the Tories now have their majority …so let the good times roll! 

We will likely see a lot more of this kind of mis-directing of funds designated for important projects but which will end up in some minister’s political backyard. 

 The Liberals were famous for this and lost public respect and trust and were sent to political purgatory over this kind of crud: but now it looks like the Tories have learned nothing more than “it’s their turn” at the trough. And in the Commons, the Tories have tried to dismiss the whole scandal.

The NDP should keep up the pressure:  ordinary Canadians can identify with these kinds of issues as we struggle to make ends meet …and pay our federal taxes at the same time.

And if Clement won’t own up to his responsibility in this disgraceful waste … Prime Minister Stephen Harper should.

Harv Oberfeld

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election. 2

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton