Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, died today

Today was a sad day in Canadian politics. Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, and leader of the Official Opposition died.

I won’t get into the life he led, but wanted to share the brief moment I had one day when I got to meet him.

Back in 2008, the Cowichan tribe hosted to North American Indigenous Games. I worked at Bank of Montreal, and had volunteered to hand out metals.

During one of the hottest and busiest days of the games, Jack Layton showed up to honour the athletes and the aboriginal culture. He was the only national political leader to come out west to say anything.

I got to talk to him a bit about the valley, the logging companies exporting raw logs, and just generally chat. He struck me as a nice guy. He was a great listener, and was engaging, so that you got the feeling that he cared about you as a person.

I felt fortunate to have met him, and his dedication to come all the way across Canada to speak for 10 minutes at the NAIG games spoke volumes for the guy he was.

It was sad to hear he lost his battle with cancer. He will be sorely missed as the only interesting political leader our country has. The rest are just boring politicians…