By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive:
Jack Layton
It is a fitting tribute to a fine Canadian and global citizen.
Editors and news directors participating a Canadian Press annual survey of newsrooms across the country nailed it when they named the man newsmaker of 2011. In 2011, no other Canadian dominated the news headlines like the late NDP leader, Jack Layton.
As I blogged earlier, Layton’s exemplary political leadership has forever changed the Canadian political landscape.
During the May 2011 election, the NDP made its biggest electoral performance at the federal level in 50 years, winning 103 seats, 58 of them from Quebec.
In the process, Layton neutered the Boc Quebecois. He brought Quebec separatists into a federal party to work for a united Canada.
And then, Jack’s two other “histories” while winning this contest. First, he received 90 per cent of the votes. That’s “the most overwhelming margins in the 65-year history of the CP Newsmaker voting”, according to the Toronto Star. Second, he beat whipped his old rival, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper ceceived just five per cent of the vote.
Of course the phenomenal Occupy protesters made the list. Occupy Canada received 9.5 per cent of the vote.
