Thanks bunches.

I agree. I think that the NDP would have had a good shot of taking the next federal election if he had lived another four years to do so. We'll see who they come up with.

I've also always voted NDP, aside from once when I lived in a riding that was real close between the Liberals and the stupid Conservatives. I voted Liberal that time. (And I actually DO like the Liberal MP from that riding, so I don't feel bad about it.)

well, I wish I could still a) be a member so I could vote for the next one in the party and b) still vote in canada.

I've been gone 8 years. Please mail me some dirt. When I left amsterdam a week ago to come back to england I stared vacantly at the stone steps whilst waiting for a local bus and said "Ok. I've been Olde-Worldied out now."

My homesickness knows no bounds at times. I think I'll cry when I get to finally come back and press myself against some pine sap. 8 years without spork or dill pickle chips is a long time.

For those who are interested, cp24 has live coverage of Jack Layton's funeral.

When will you be back?

My parents bought a place in the wilderness recently (no seriously) and they even have a sugar shack on their land for making their own maple syrup. They're pretty excited. (you mentioning tree sap made me think of that.) When I visited them there last week I spent most of my time eating wild blueberries and catching snakes. I think I could live there provided we never ran out of snakes and blueberries.

Give the Left Some Heft?
Something Something Bereft?

I got nothing.

Whoa. I didn't know he passed! :( Dis sucks! I will say one thing he remained true to himself and his conscience when he ran for office and kept it.

that sounds like bliss!!! *sigh*

You know, maybe I'm being a brat about this but I can't believe that US media hasn't even given a nod to Jack Layton's passing. Huffpost had a brief article, but that was it. Crickets.

One thing I've learned from living over here is that most countries are pretty self absorbed. Some more than others, granted. And countries like wales, scotland, canada, and new zealand (for example) are usually a little less self absorbed because we can't be. The nations next to us always BLAH BLAH BLAH about their own stuff in a volume that we just can't tune out but the more sizable and forefront nation can very easily ignore the one next to it. Places like the US, England, China, India and Japan often just steam roll (or attempt to steam roll) over as many "other" countries as possible with the assurity of their own moral/political system being correct. They do it a lot to the people in their own country even.

Living in England and watching wales and scotland roooolllll their eyes and have to fight for a few centemeters of their own political space has made me appreciate canadian fortitude a lot more. And to not take the states en mass unilateral foreign policy so personal any more: they do it to everyone; and they aren't the only ones to do it, unfortunately...

But I do find their television content to be fucking annoying and usually insipid and I'm not looking forward with it being the only choice when I get back. That's why I'll get some proxy servers for BBCiplayer and a couple of other countries stuff ;)

As someone who has both American and Canadian citizenship, I understand why Jack Layton didn't get more coverage in the American media. He wasn't the Prime Minister or Head of State in Canada. He was beloved by many (it was Layton's NDP that convinced me to pursue citizenship instead of just staying a permanent resident), but that notoriety didn't really go beyond Canada's borders. Jack was fundamentally a local/national politician who wanted to do the best for Canada. I think it's OK that the American media didn't cover his passing or his funeral, because his focus wasn't on the United States.

That might be why I think teevee is so boring. Except for HBO.

Unfortunately Canadian television is mostly horrible. Lots of period dramas, which I can't freaking stand. This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Degrassi are like the only saving graces (well, old Degrassi was good. I haven't seen the new show yet.)

He was the official leader of the opposition party. That's a big deal. We're not talking about the mayor of some tiny town in northern ontario. I wouldn't have expected/wanted to see a 3-page spread in he New York Times, but a fucking mention would have been nice. Because god knows that if, say, John Boenner or Nancy Pelosi or somebody had died it would have been more than mentioned in Canadian papers.

On top of that, you and I both know that if John Boehner or Nancy Pelosi had died that the PM here would have made some sort of a goodwill statement. But Obama couldn't be bothered to say "wow, that stinks kids. So sorry to hear it." It just feels really disrespectful and symptomatic of that whole thing where the US is really only interested in the US. We're supposed to be neighbours, and completely ignoring something that is a huge fucking deal to so many Canadians feels mighty unneighbourly.

But look at bush, when interviewed he thought "poutine" was the PM. And it's not just the states - many countries that have the weight that the states do, they don't acknowledge. The nice thing is, once you leave the island of north america, the states isn't in your face like it is in canada. it's put into it's self absorbed perspective just like other imperialist-acting governments. I do have to say, not having the US shoved down my throat every day, even though I don't live there, has been a nice break. Most countries don't expect England to give much of a nod either, cause they are pretty hell bent on their own navel as well. Granted, they cover far more international news because the contient is a spit away, but they tend not to cover anything of import that the scots or welsh get up to. Unless, of course, it effects them.

annoying, and I'm not looking forward to the constant pablum force feeding when I get home, but I miss the north american concept of space and what QUIET actually sounds like...

You know there was a hurricane and an earthquake that happened in the US within days of each other, right? And the US economy is on verge of a collapse, and the President is gearing up for the political fight of his life, right? I'm sorry if it seems insensitive, but I just think he has bigger things to worry about than sending condolences to someone who isn't a head of state. The Pelosi/Boehner mention is slightly different for a number of reasons because until very recently, she was in the direct Line of Succession. Boehner is now in that line of succession. Jack Layton wasn't.

I'm not saying it is right or wrong, but what I am saying is that as someone who is American by birth, but Canadian by choice, the Canadian finger wagging gets old after awhile.

I loved and respected Jack Layton, but I don't think lack of coverage of his passing is evidence of some great moral failure or cultural myopia on the part of the American media.

It's also important to remember that just because you didn't hear or read about any official condolence that it didn't happen. There is lots and lots of official (yet personal) correspondence that comes out of The Oval Office or 24 Sussex that just doesn't make it into the daily news cycle.

Being the librarian that I am, I searched our digital newspaper subscription service for mentions of Jack Layton's death or funeral in American newspapers over the past week and found 92 mentions, including The Wall Street Journal. I'd say getting coverage in a major American paper of record counts. And that's just the papers I have access to.

The two people who did the two mentions in the Wall Street Journal (one to say he died, one to say that a temporary leader for the NDP was appointed) are both Canadians. The one person who mentioned his passing in the New York Times? Also Canadian. Just saying.

MSNBC on Sunday finally got around to hotlinking to a few articles from other sources (reuters, ap) and Fox has said nothing.

(That Prime Minister Jean Poutine thing really did happen, by the way. It was funny.)

(and of course I am aware of the hurricane and earthquake. the hurricane hit the east coast of Canada, also. And we felt the earthquake in Ontario.)

You don't think there is a phenomena where the US as a whole is very disinterested in anything outside of the US, that's cool. I think there is, and that's cool too.

I never said there wasn't, I'm arguing that during this news cycle, the American media (and President) had bigger issues to focus on. I'm also arguing that maybe it would be better if my fellow Canadians focused inward a little more instead of wringing our hands worrying about what Canadian news stories Americans did or didn't cover.

I'm not embarrassed. It's just curious to me how Canadians can spend half their time kvetching about how Americans don't pay any attention to them, and half their time trying to appease Americans (especially with the current government).

There was a Canadian comedian - I wish I could remember his name - who said that the relationship between the US and Canada was like the relationship between him and his little brother. Whenever he wanted to go off and do anything, his mom would say "be sure to take your little brother with you!" and if he ever dared to try to go off on his own, his little brother would whine and run and tell mom.

It's lazy thinking to be so biased and so bigoted about an entire country of people. It seems like disordered thinking to be so dismissive of an entire country yet completely obsessed with getting them to pay attention to you. It's so easy to drift into that lazy thinking, and I get that Canadians obviously get something out of this national obsession with trying to catch the eye of the United States, but as an outsider who chose to make Canada her home, I've never understood it. Canada's awesome in its own right - we don't need the klieg lights from down south to focus on us to realize it. Rep your own. Hype your own. Don't mind what the others are doing, just do you, Canada.