Dear Jack...
It's interesting how a complete stranger can change your life and one year ago today, Jack Layton died. I cried. I cried because we lost a champion of the labour movement. I cried because we lost a man who cared about the working people in this country. I cried because we lost a great Canadian. I didn't know Jack personally. I got to meet him at one of CUPE conventions a few years ago. He shook my hand, said hello and smiled that famous mustachey smile. He always lit up the room at convention - he was articulate and inclusive. He wanted everyone in on the speech. He was always passionate - whether it was about pension reform, childcare, education, economics or the environment, he was passionate about everything. At at the 2011 Canadian Labour Congress Convention he walked into a room of almost 3000 trade unionists from coast to coast to coast. You would have thought Bono had arrived by the reaction he got! It was right after the federal election where he had just been