Jack Layton

I am very sorry to hear that Jack Layton is ill with a different cancer.   When I heard him on the CBC I did not recognize his voice, I was wondering who it was speaking and I was floored to hear it was him.

The man I then saw in the video does not look well at all.

He says he wants to be back on September 19th.

The NDP can go this summer with out him, there is no danger of an election.   I am not sure the NDP could be as effective or as popular over the next few years if he can not come back.

The federal NDP suffers from a shortage of clear future leaders to follow on from Jack Layton.   There should always be a sense of who could step in and lead the party if the leader has to step down, with the federal NDP I get no sense of this.

For our parliamentary system to work well we need a clear opposition to the government.   One of our problems in this country has been that the Liberal party is useless as an opposition and consequently our Conservative governments are not as good as they could.   I have hopes that an NDP official opposition/government in waiting would mean that we will have better governance in Ottawa.

If Jack Layton can not return, and I would really hate to see this, I do not know if the NDP caucus can hold together.   I am not sure who could step up and take over and keep both the west and Quebec parts of the caucus happy.

The question in September will be how hard the Liberals and the Bloc go after the NDP and try to destroy them.