Stupid/Smart politics. Hudak vs. McGuinty

Dalton McGuinty will raise taxes, Dalton McGuinty will raise taxes, Dalton McGuinty will raise taxes. Let me hear all my conservatives repeat it one more time, Dalton McGuinty will raise taxes!

If Tim Hudak had repeated this 5 word mantra in every press conference, town hall meeting, annoying doorknob flier, and in every ethnic community he pandered for votes he would have guaranteed an election victory. No other words should have escaped his mouth in the last 6 weeks. He should have legally changed his first name too “Dalton”, middle name to “Will”, and last name to “Raisetaxes”.

Politics might be a messy and unsavoury line of work, but it definitely is not that complicated. You stick to a few main talking points that you dumb down for the general electorate, and pound down those points threw mostly negative attacks on your opponent, which you spin into positive points as to how your party will do the opposite. This could not be any easier then while dealing with a government that came out of a recession, and by default is seen as fiscally irresponsible and the reason for higher taxes. I’ll leave the debate to actual party supporters as to why Dalton Mcguinty continually raised taxes, but the fact remains he said he would not raise them, and then blatantly lied to the public and increased taxes on numerous occasions. This should have been Tim Hudak’s main talking point, with the sky rocketing Ontario debt the appetizer, and maybe a sprinkle of the G8 mess and a few other issues on the side. If his campaign managers were a bunch of drunken monkeys on typewriters they could have came up with a similar strategy.

But what does Mr. Hudak do? He opens his mouth and lets his conservative ideology possibly spoil an easy election victory. The moment he began aggressively campaigning against the ‘foreign workers’ tax credit of 10,000 put on the table by the liberals his poll numbers began to drown like an unsupervised 3 yr old at a swimming pool. The fact that he deliberately attempted to misguide the public by claiming it to be a tax credit for ‘foreign workers’ was only the 5th thing wrong with how he approached the situation. The tax credit itself gives a 10,000 tax incentive to companies to hire new Ontario residents (Canadian citizens) of 1 to 5 years, and was limited to a few industries. In total it would cost 12 million. It was a clear attempt by the liberals to salvage the vote of ethnic communities and new comers, who surprisingly voted blue/orange during the federal election. Tim Hudak quickly began a public onslaught on what he called an unfair tax credit, which gave ‘foreign workers’ an advantage over the white man (in not so many words). Hudak tried to reason his opposition to the credit by saying new comers do not want handouts and want to be on an even playing field with Ontarians. (He fails to realize that playing field is an ice rink, and new comers usually don’t know how to skate) But no matter how he cut it, it was bad politics and his immediate hostility towards the credit offended minority voters all across the GTA. He spent a solid week straying away from Dalton McGuinty’s tax record, and Ontario’s sky rocketing debt (which grows in millions of dollars everyday just in interest). And in the process he lost a significant amount of support in Toronto.

An election that was given to the conservatives on a silver platter is now a dog fight because Hudak did not stick to a simple and effective message. In general conservatives have followed this simple strategy in both American and Canadian politics over the last few years, and have come out on top of issues they had no business being in. They have proven to be politically smarter then their liberal counterparts, and have noticeably better posture because of that steal backbone they must have had implanted. As opposed to liberal parties, who bend to opposition like the Eagles offensive line.
But surprisingly in this provincial election the liberals have done a masterful job in out politicking the cons. It was no coincidence that Dalton Mcguinty put forward this tax credit. He was using it as bait to garner a response, and the conservatives bit, and they bit hard. A few days after Hudak began his tirade against the tax credit the liberals laid low and let Hudak’s mouth bring them back into the race. For 3-4 days they did not even bother to explain that claims the credit was for ‘foreign workers’ was inaccurate. Then when the time was right to get on the offensive, they did a great job to blow up the issue and brush Hudak as a borderline racist, demanding that he apologize for referring to new Ontarians as foreign workers. Then to throw salt on the wound they pointed out that Hudak had proposed a similar credit last year. Quickly the conservative party backed down from the attack, changed the language on their website and tried to brush it under the proverbial rug. But like anybody in a relationship knows, once you say something it is very hard to take back.

Edit: It should be noted that Hudak has took my advice. His last attack ad on McGuinty simply says this: MCGUINTY: HIGHER TAXES, LESS JOBS. HUDAK: LOWER TAXES, NEW JOBS. I'm Starting to wonder if politicians think the general public all have blonde hair.

                      

Post 9/11 World

I spent the majority of my September 10^th evening immersed in 9/11 documentaries recalling the grief and heroic tales of sacrifice on that day. There were firefighters who continued up the second tower to save lives, knowing full well it would collapse. Employees who refused to leave each other behind as they descended 70 stories. I wrote most of the following article that same night, but left it for September 13th to post. (you'll see why)
50,000 employees worked at both WTC buildings. That is 10 times more than any skyscraper in downtown Toronto. Five years ago while walking down Bay St. in Toronto I looked up at the RBC building, and pictured the carnage of a jumbo jet flying into it’s 70^th floor. Walking down Bay St. with a turban and staring up at skyscrapers in a ‘post 9/11’ world is not the best idea, so I quickly looked down. Then I quickly looked straight, because after the London subway attacks looking to the ground might arise some suspicion too. I spent the rest of that 10 min walk to Union Station staring straight ahead, with no sudden head movements. 

Amidst the sympathy I felt for the innocent lives lost, I could not help reflect on how the last 10 years have unfolded.  The world had definitely changed, but this term ‘post 9/11 world’ bothered me.  It wasn't necessarily a reflection of reality, rather a depiction of western bias to how we have come to view history, and how it would be penned down for future generations. The events of Sept 11 had become a lens through which we see the world today.  The term itself divides history so that certain types of grief are marginalized while others are privileged.  As a result, this simple term has become an escape goat for atrocities committed across the globe, and victimizing other groups in the name of this perceived new ‘age’ becomes justified. Families living in war torn areas effected by this new era likely view history in an entirely different light, whether it is written or not. For them the last 10 years has seen casualties far surpassing those of the events on 9/11, and they become collateral damage in the ‘global war on terrorism’ which would not have had any life if not for the ‘post 9/11 world.’

The slope tends to get much more slippery once this ‘living in a new era’ narrative becomes the norm. Very quickly personal liberties are taken away, moral compasses don’t know the difference between north and south, and decisions are made on gut reaction without much concern for future consequences. This was clearly the case when a once morally reprehensible act such as torture becomes accepted by the mainstream and the political elite. The U.S. was publicly becoming the terrorists they had been attacked by. (As opposed to in secret, which they had established through years of oppressive covert operations)  Eventually this term led to the justification for lengthy wars, which are fought to the point where nobody can remember what they are fighting for. Wars that were entirely based on "truthiness" -  is a "truth" that a person claims to know intuitively "from the gut" in that it "feels right" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. In fact, the term truthiness coined by Stephen Colbert is a direct result of the post 9/11 era, because nobody would believe truthiness unless it was rooted in this era.
 One week after 9/11, war was declared before the guilt of the perpetrators had been determined. But it was the beginning of a new post 9/11 era for the United States, one in which proving reasonable doubt took a back seat to retribution. It is hard to lay full blame on the trigger happy Neo-Cons in the White House at the time, the most powerful nation in the world was brought to it’s knees and it’s citizens demanded revenge. And it was a great opportunity to secure global dominance with impunity. It was basic human instinct on display at a political level.

But the fear mongering associated with the ‘post 9/11 world’ gave the war effort an unstoppable momentum. Think of Barkley in his prime driving the paint. Feet planted or not he was going to run right through you. But unlike basketball, the rules of war didn’t call offensive fouls. Next was Iraq, which was largely conjured up on false claims of WMD’s. 8 years later and there is still no justification for leaving a generation of Iraqi’s in war. But there was no going back now, and the sheer momentum of the war effort left no option to turn back. When the East and West of Baltimore battled it out in a drug war on “The Wire” Slim Charles summed it up best, “if it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie”.  (for anyone who hasn’t seem ‘the Wire’, best show ever!)

One of the worst precedents set by the U.S.A in this new era was the breaking of international law which govern the rules of war across the globe. In the case of Osama Bin Laden, The American government committed a blatant assassination, with no trial, no medical examination and was a direct violation of international law. It was a dangerous precedent to be set for countries who brutally suppress opposition. How can the U.S government criticize the killing of prisoners with no trial, or Mid East dictators for killing leaders of dissent? Amanda Watson, a doctoral candidate at the University of Ottawa makes a good point when discussing the anniversary memorials of 9/11. She argues that the events of 9/11 seem to be depoliticized in public commemoration and presented as neutral for the purposes of grieving. “The political context of the attacks and U.S. foreign policy is washed away in favour of more sentiment,” she said, which itself obscures, silences and erases other kinds of associated grief that do not fit so well into the “mainstream master narrative.”

Consequently this type of grief fosters a dangerous nationalistic rhetoric that leads to xenophobia and feeds the  the war machine like Kevin Spacey fed the obese guy to death in "Seven".  

Ironically, the original 9/11 occurred on September 11, 1973, when the U.S. succeeded in its intensive efforts to overthrow the democratic government of Salvador Allende in Chile with a military coup that placed General Pinochet’s brutal regime in office. It was one of many attempts at propping up pro American regimes in Latin America, and in the process supporting the murder of thousands of innocent civilians. But was there a post 9/11 era for the people of Chile?

September 11^th was a horrible tragedy, and the lives of those 2,578 people will never be forgotten. But almost just as tragic is what Jon Stewart denoted as September 13/2011: “Remembering the Day We Forgot the Lessons of the Day We Had Sworn We Would Always Remember.”

Poor As F*ck in America

This guy F*ck must really be poor. He is the unofficial benchmark to which all poverty is measured. But how poor is F*ck? Is he homeless? Does he rent or own a place in the city? Is he on food stamps? Does he come from a single parent family?

Now more then ever income inequality (or equality) is at the forefront of an ideological debate between conservatives and liberals. In the US the debate boiled over during the debt crisis, conservatives asking to reduce the deficit entirely of spending cuts, and liberals asking to reduce the deficit with a mix of tax increases on the rich as well as spending cuts. The two battled it out like a pair of Darwinian monkeys in a cage. If only they had that secret formula from “Rise of the Apes” that made them super smart. But movies rarely translate to reality, so the two idiot monkeys exchanged blows, putting a band aid on the original conflict, while embarrassing themselves in the process.

Currently the United States is ranked 126^th in terms of income equality, by far the worst among developed nations. They fall behind countries like Iran, Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya and of course Canada (brap, brap) The top 1 percentile of households took home 23.5 percent of income in 2007, the largest share since 1928. With a work hard, get rich formula deeply embedded in the American psyche, Americans have generally tolerated inequality. On the other end of the poverty spectrum, a staggering 14.3%, or 43.6 million Americans were deemed to be below the poverty level in 2009. Some adjusted estimates put it at 20%. These people are just as poor as F*ck, or more so.

 Does this mean that the success of the American empire is masked by an underbelly of rampant poverty, hardship and discriminatory economic policy? Or is income inequality in America over stated, and do the poor in America live on par with the middle class of other developed nations?

 In the United States of America the poverty threshold for a family of four is US$22,350.  So we finally determined F’ck’s salary, assuming he is living up to his name and has 2 children. This seems like an amount that would leave the majority of people struggling to make ends meet.  So where does F*ck live and how big is his house? There is a 46% chance that he owns his own home. Also, the average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. What does he use for transportation? Three quarters of poor households own a car and 30 percent own two or more cars. I heard F*ck is overweight, is that true? According to the USDA, on a typical day, less than one American in 200 will experience hunger due to a lack of money to buy food. The largest nutrition problem for the poor in the U.S is overnurishment (spell check tells me I made that word up) and obesity issues. It’s starting to seem like F*ck’s life isn’t as bad as I thought. Ok, but those were basic necessities; he probably doesn’t have a TV and listens to his nagging wife and kids all day. That is also false; ninety seven percent of poor households have a color television and over half own two or more color televisions.  So what the F*ck is he complaining about?

Despite all these relative facts and figures something is missing from the equation. F*ck lives in the self proclaimed land of opportunity; the US of A. Capitalism promotes an opitimal and efficient use of resources to reach maximum potential. If this is the case, the United States should be immediately raising the bar to reach that potential, providing economic opportunity to all portions of society. Making relative comparisons of poverty is not adjusted for the maximum potential that the U.S has to provide a comfortable lifestyle for a large majority of it's citizens. Currently, the USA is like the under performing human brain, which only uses 10% of its maximum potential.  A family of four making $22,350 leaves little breathing room, and the land of opportunity eventually becomes the land of despair.  With only 4% of Bachelor Degree grads living in poverty, the correlation between education and poverty levels is undeniable. This is a basic necessity needed to escape the clutches of poverty. However, thepoor of America end up in vicious cycles of limited to no education, and generations of families living to simply make ends meet. 

While the poor in America generally enjoy a standard of living higher then the poor of other nations, the vast wealth in the USA is ample enough to provide more economic opportunity for the poor while continuing to increase the wealth of the middle class. Economic policies should not favour the rich, but at the very least be on par with the poor. The hyper capitalist methodology has led to a portion of the population stuck in it’s own grave of poverty, while the rich continue to poor the dirt on top. For years propaganda machines have convinced the general public that the large income gap is a sign of progress, lower class of America is lazy and there are ample government programs to assist the poor. This is a complete myth, as there is a 2/3 chance that our poor friend F*ck is working almost 2 jobs (1.7 if averaged out). Also the average welfare check for one parent with two children is $478 a month, one of the lowest in the developed world.  Immediately, extremist neo-cons will label attempts to redistribute wealth as an attempt to place USA into a socialist state. Making claims that distributing wealth does not promote personal accountability and encourages the abuse of tax payer money. Recently billionaire Warren Buffet chimed into the debate, and declared that the rich in America has been coddled long enough, and taxes should be raised on the highest earners. The conservative media went as far as labeling the billionaire a socialist. Warren Buffet a socialist? These people really have no idea what the word means. It is akin to saying, “check out that George Clooney guy, banging all those girls, what a queer!”.The US is bound to Capitalism like a baby cub to its mothers teat, but there is definitely an optimal balance that will benefit all portions of society. One that will further exploit the hard work and innovation that the American capitalist market has fostered, while at the same time not leaving behind those stuck in cycles of poverty resulting from discriminatory economic policies.  .

In addition to economic policy, social issues cannot be overlooked. Single parent families are the largest cause of poverty. Among single parent families, 26.6% lived in poverty. A staggering 24.7% of all African Americans live in poverty, with 20% of the black population in U.S on food stamps. The epidemic of single parent families amongst African Americans is a definite cause for concern, with only 30% of African American children being born into a stable married household. These systemic issues should be studied, funded and a cultural change needs to occur in order to help reduce poverty levels resulting from social issues.

The poor in America live relatively better then the majority of the world, but in the self proclaimed land of opportunity the bar should be immediately raised. Taxes on top earners are the lowest in three generations. Yet their complaints about the prospect of an increase to a level that is still awfully low by recent historical standards is remarkable. And for those who ultimately want to escape the sad reality of cyclical poverty in the United States, I say Fuck it, move to Canada. 

Mountains Can Be Poor too

Mountain Community of Chevraine

The country of Haiti is surrounded by a hillside of beautiful mountains visible from every corner of the island. At first glance I took in the beauty, and assumed the visible divinity of the mountainside would leave them unscathed from the destruction left behind on the ground below. However, I soon found out that the mountains also had their own land claims with severe economic and infrastructure issues. It was unfortunate that poverty had one virtuous quality; it did not discriminate.    

The following is a brief recap of my journey to visit the mountain community of Chevraine, Haiti.

We left camp in the morning; I was told that any trip to the mountains would likely need an entire day. I rode shotgun as usual, with our designated driver beside me, and my friend, translator and guide Joel in the back along with his girlfriend. I liked explaining useless western customs to Joel like shotgun, and told him that if he ever called shotgun before me the front seat was his. He was very a humble man, and he wouldn’t have ridden in the front even if he ever did remember the shotgun rule (he never did). While soft spoken and not particularly confident in personal interactions, Joel was an amazing public speaker. He had that stoic Obama style speaking method which made even the smallest thing he said seem important, and he combined it all with his inherent wit and charm. In one speech to a poor Haitian community I recall him starting by piling two different types of rocks into a glass, and then turning it into an awesome metaphor about working together to rebuild the country. His translations did wonders for me with the locals. On one occasion we went to buy food and supplies for an orphanage at the local market, and I was getting the normal stares from the people. One Haitian lady who became our charcoal saleswomen asked Joel “how does he kiss his girlfriend with that beard?” I replied to Joel; tell her “looks like you want to find out”. Joel repeated it in French and everyone laughed and giggled. We made a good team, like Michael (the black guy) and Jin (the Korean guy) from Lost season 1. Now that I think about it, he looked a bit like Michael too. The earthquake had taken his father, and he left a steady teaching job in the Dominican to help with the reconstruction of his country. This mountain community was something he wanted me to see, and was a project of his, along with a makeshift school that taught older people to read and write.   In a country where scams and corruption are the norm I was glad I had a genuine man as my guide throughout my stay.

After a 90 minute drive through roads, gravel and water streams that are not meant to be driven on we arrived at the foot of a river, with the mountains waiting on the opposite side. We stopped here and ate sandwiches made by Joel’s girlfriend, and handed some out to the local kids. This is where I met Moses, who arrived with guides, horses and donkeys that would help us across the strong river current which was almost waste high.

Then began a 45 minute horseback ride up the mountain. My donkey seemed to be going slower then everyone else’s, and I yelled out to Joel. He replied back to me “they told me your donkey is pregnant, go easy on her!” The view got better and better as we reached the top, and at times I caught myself in awe staring at the mountainside when I should have been directing my horse on the fairly narrow and rocky path. Eventually we reached a house, and sat in the corridor. My friend Joel and I were greeted with smiles and ‘bonsieurs’. We washed up and went into the kitchen area. A veggie meal had been specially made for me, which could not have come at a better time. Rice, beans, boiled vegetables, and plantanes, it was the norm in Haiti for a vegetarian. I was especially grateful they made special considerations for me atop this mountain. During my meal I found myself looking up at the incredibly tall trees which had coconuts hanging from them.  Quickly a teenager caught a glimpse of my gaze and murmured something in Haitian Creole, which I’m guessing meant “do you want one?” Without waiting for my response he began climbing the enormous tropical tree, and with a machete in his hand he cut down a couple of coconuts. The freshness of the coconut water was absolutely amazing. The hospitality reminded me of home, a character trait that resonated with my Punjabi background.

After the meal we participated in a community meeting, which had a mix of elders and youth taking on an active role as elected officials (take note Sikh community?) I introduced myself here, and explained the role of Khalsa Aid, along with some funny comments about my unique appearance. Everyone seemed receptive and smiled and laughed as Joel translated to them. The delay in any communication I had with people in Haiti was like a bad dubbed foreign movie.  The children shyly came for a glimpse of me and then would quickly run behind their older siblings or parents. While much of Haiti is now use to seeing foreign aid workers walk their streets, up in these mountains it was probably the first time these kids had seen a non Haitian. Of course they were curious about my dastaar (turban) and hair, so I explained the basic teachings of Guru Nanak Dev ji Maharaj. All my statements were met with head nods of approval; Guru Sahib’s message truly is universal. Unlike the majority of the world, In Haiti the locals rarely associated my appearance to that of a Muslim. It made me feel comfortable that the stares were out of genuine curiosity, and not a fearful predisposed perception that I was a turban wearing terrorist. In fact, the most commonly used term to describe me was Jesus. I would regularly hear “Jesus” murmured under someone’s breath as I walked by.

 After meeting Moses and immediately developing a friendship with him, everyone began joking about Jesus and Moses side by side on donkeys riding up the mountain. Our driver Amos, whose name was also a biblical reference, was later added to the run on joke.

This community of approximately 5000 had a severe lack of several basic necessities. Clean water, a hospital, and a school to name a few. However, there were clear attempts to become a progressive community, the land that had been cleared for construction of a school was an indication of this. I felt the meeting wasn’t as productive as I wanted, but after a conversation later with Joel I realized that building an entire community with almost no infrastructure from scratch would take years. This was only a meeting for me to come and see the situation for myself.

 Dark was beginning to set in, and we had spent more time here then expected. As we began our descent down the mountain it was becoming more and more dangerous as the darkness hid every bulging rock and crevice. It wasn’t long before an older lady grabbed me by the arm, and began directing me down the mountain as if I had known her for years. She must have walked this mountain thousands of times, and it seemed as if we were walking in bright daylight. Her motherly instincts were a stark reminder of the universal oneness of mankind, and that love and kindness were traits that broke down any racial or class distinctions.

About half way down our procession stopped. I could sense the seriousness of the conversation, and I quickly asked Joel to tell me what was going on. He informed me that they wanted us to stay the night, as crossing the river at this time might be dangerous. Without waiting for my response, he quickly told them that we had to get back, and so the journey continued.When we reached the river I braced for a very strong current. I was held by both arms by two men, which made the short journey across a lot easier. We quickly said our goodbye’s and drove back to camp in darkness.

Throughout the following week Joel had told me that the mountain people wanted me to come back. It was on the second trip that I gave into the requests and I showed my kes (hair) to the mountain people. Initially it was met with a bit of a gasp, and then followed by claps and smiles. The second trip would be my last, and some of the goodbyes were emotional. It was only two days but I had made several friends on these trips up the mountains of Haiti, ones that will bring me back to Haiti in the future.

JL - A Genuine Man of the Peoples

It took Jack Layton 8 years to take his party from political obscurity to becoming the official opposition. It was a political upset on the scale of the miracle on ice, or Buster Douglas beating Tyson in 90. It made a rather mundane election into one of the most historic of our time, and I still remember the energy and uneasy anxiety from all parties as the NDP began there swoop into power. As the poll numbers came out we all second guessed the results, and expected them to eventually correct themselves like an overvalued stock. But week after week it started to look more and more like an actual reality; the NDP was going to surpass their stronger, more popular older brother. Finally shedding the title of being a fringe party for so many decades, or if we continue the nuclear family metaphor, the weird little brother who was never allowed to play with the big boys.  It seemed as if the liberal party always had the psychological edge that all older brothers have. They kick their younger siblings ass for so long as kids, that even as they got older the younger brother can rarely take on the older. He might work out more, take MMA at the local gym, but the psychological edge always gave the older brother a deciding edge. And how sweet it must have been for Jack to finally kick some ass. With his genuine 'good guy' yet cool status, and the amount of ass kicking Jack did this past federal election, his initials 'JL' should have become his nickname, and he should have walked into the House to his own DX wrestling theme music.  "At 5,8 weighing in at 150 pounds, 6 year Toronto-Danforth MP, 8 year NDP leader, newly elected leader of the official opposition, J.L!!!" (break it down...tananananaaaa) And the MP's are going crazy!  Followed by Stephen Harper walking in to a course of boo's and 'you suck' chants. 

 Jack Layton will ultimately be remembered for being a man of the people. He was an absolute champion for progressive social causes, and unlike the majority of our politicians, he would not heed to any political pressure to change his beliefs. His first order of business as leader of the opposition provided a post election picture of the Jack that the average Canadian had come to love. The strong relationship with labour Unions was at the core of NDP values. Following the lead of their messiah, the NDP’s 58 hour overnight filibuster against the conservative governments back to work ruling for the Postal Workers Union was a prime example of Jack being Jack. I’m sure labour unions across the country breathed a sigh of relief. For a second they might have been worried, would Layton tweak his loyalties and beliefs to fit into what the Canadian political spectrum had come to see as normal? Of course not, Jake Layton was a genuine man of his word, stood steadfast in his beliefs, and labour in Canada now had a powerful friend in parliament. He was the wrestling equivalent of the 'good guy', and good guys never back stab or piss off their fans. 

Unlike Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who it seems has left the right pieces in place to fill his departure, the NDP is in serious danger of falling back into obscurity. Leaving a reign ‘short like leprachauns’. Other then say Nycole Turmel and Olivia Chowe it is hard to name anyone else of relevance in the NDP. Even the constituents of newly elected NDP ridings could not name you anyone of significance in the party other then the beloved Jack Layton. This became obvious when a MP with little French speaking skill was elected in a French speaking riding, or a 22 year old kid just out University was elected in another. The people obviously voted for strong leadership of the commander in chief, and could careless about the foot soldiers. At present behind the scenes party strategist Brian Topp seems like a front runner. He definitely has labour on his side, having worked for the Credit Union of Central Canada and now as the executive director of ACTRA (the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists). But it is all up in the air, and the political landscape seems wide open for Stephen Harper, and the liberal’s are salivating at their sudden chance at redemption. Canadian politics is definitely getting more interesting.

With his shakespearan esque death, passing away in his political prime and months after reaching the pinnacle of his career, it is hard not to think of what might have been. With his popularity showing no signs of slowing down, and a conservative party that was elected largely on the basis of ‘anybody but the liberals’ syndrome, Jack Layton could have very well have become PM. We have seen crazier things happen before.. I suppose for now, he will remain one of the best PM’s we never had. 

Thank you Mr. Layton, for showing all little brothers that one day we can escape that headlock and kick some ass too. 

R.I.P.