Jack Layton and I had been active in Toronto politics for years, championing causes with a large network of people, so I was surprised when I didn’t recognize one of the guys sitting at our dining room table.

“Hello, I’m Olivia. You’re here to help Jack get elected leader?”

“I’m here to help Jack get elected prime minister,” he replied. “Nice to meet you. I’m Brad Lavigne.”

It was the spring of 2002, and a small group of us had begun meeting at our house to map out Jack’s run for the leadership of the New Democratic Party of Canada. Brad was a British Columbian who had moved to Toronto the previous year, and he was smart, witty and had connections all over Canada. Jack was on the road at the time, as he often was, but Brad pitched right in. He worked for weeks out of our house before even meeting Jack. On a rare day when Jack was actually at home, Brad was there too, trying to sign up yet another regional coordinator for the campaign on the phone. “Jack, go introduce yourself to this guy. We need him,” I said.

The new guy became a constant in our lives over the next decade, as Jack and his team set out to revitalize the ndp. The goal of “the project,” as we called it, was ambitious: turning a caucus of thirteen and a party with the support of only one in ten voters into a modern political force, ready to govern. The project required discipline and tenacity, as well as humour and optimism. With naysayers in our own party and beyond, Jack, an optimist to his very core, built a team of dedicated and talented people who worked tirelessly to build a better Canada. Brad was a cornerstone of that team.

Brad was the only member of Jack’s team to be there through it all. From his start as a campaign volunteer on Jack’s leadership run, Brad became the campaign manager for the historic 2011 election—the Orange Wave that propelled the ndp to Official Opposition. After that election, Brad was appointed Jack’s principal secretary. Then, just a few months later, he had another role to play. He served as an honorary pallbearer at Jack’s state funeral.

Jack’s family meant the world to him, and he always made time for us, no matter how crazy our lives were. But Jack had a second family—his political family—who also meant the world to him. They shared the lows and some spectacular highs, and they came to trust and love one another. Brad was part of that family. Brad is more than a witness to history; he helped shape it. His perspective is one of a kind. Building the Orange Wave gives Canadians from all walks of life a behind-the-scenes account of an extraordinary time in our country’s history, a true sense of the scope of Jack’s legacy. This is the definitive road map to fulfilling “the project”—working together to build a country where love, hope and optimism triumph over anger, fear and despair. 

 

Olivia Chow

Toronto, July 2013