Article content continued

I respected Mr Layton. He fought for causes that are dear to me: bike paths, wind turbines, childcare, equality for gays and lesbians, health care. Still, I cannot say I ever warmed to him; he always seemed just slightly too polished and telegenic for me.

But something happened Friday morning when the host on the Réseau de l’information, Louis Lemieux, told me, as I sat in front of a TV camera at the CBC Broadcast Centre, that the hearse carrying Jack Layton’s coffin took a last, impromptu tour across the Ottawa River to Gatineau Thursday night, to say a last goodbye to Quebec. The host asked how that news made me feel.

I started to cry.

Quebec is where I grew up; my little sister lives in Gatineau, and my mom lives a few kilometres east on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, on a farm near Montebello, Quebec.

Mr. Layton’s coffin taking a final swing through Quebec is so like him, isn’t it? He just has to shake one last hand, kiss one last baby.

More poignantly, this final trip to Quebec reminded me of his most remarkable accomplishment, in my eyes: he reunited Canada, electing, for the first time in a generation, a vast majority of federalist MPs in Quebec. Jean Chrétien couldn’t do it. Paul Martin couldn’t do it. Stephen Harper couldn’t do it. Stéphane Dion couldn’t do it. Jack Layton did it.

“Speaking personally,” I told RDI, “I believe in a united Canada. It fills us with pride [the French word I used is orgueil] to see how our guy, Layton, was able to bring Quebec back into the fold.”

National Post

pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com