OTTAWA -- Perhaps Canadians are taking Jack Layton's dying wish to heart.
From his death bed last summer, the late NDP leader exhorted people to be more loving, hopeful and optimistic. If the unprecedented outpouring of grief that ensued -- and the fond memories Canadians continue to cherish a year later -- are any indication, it could be they're doing just that.
At the very least, they've banished the cynicism normally reserved for politicians.
In the days that followed Layton's death last Aug. 22, the odd critic could be heard muttering about a maudlin spectacle of group mourning -- thousands scribbling emotional chalk messages and leaving flowers, stuffed toys, cans of Orange Crush and other mementoes at impromptu memorials.
"Teddy-bear grief," some sniffed. A mawkish over-reaction, they said, to the death of someone most Canadians had never met and who had never risen higher than leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition -- a position he held for only for a few short months before succumbing to cancer.
From his death bed last summer, the late NDP leader exhorted people to be more loving, hopeful and optimistic. If the unprecedented outpouring of grief that ensued -- and the fond memories Canadians continue to cherish a year later -- are any indication, it could be they're doing just that.
At the very least, they've banished the cynicism normally reserved for politicians.
In the days that followed Layton's death last Aug. 22, the odd critic could be heard muttering about a maudlin spectacle of group mourning -- thousands scribbling emotional chalk messages and leaving flowers, stuffed toys, cans of Orange Crush and other mementoes at impromptu memorials.
"Teddy-bear grief," some sniffed. A mawkish over-reaction, they said, to the death of someone most Canadians had never met and who had never risen higher than leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition -- a position he held for only for a few short months before succumbing to cancer.
hocked: