It’s been a few days since the passing of New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton as I write this, and the tributes are still pouring in. Thousands have come to Ottawa to say goodbye in person as his body laid in state. Impromptu memory walks and memorials have been set up across the country by people he’s never met. Public reactions from the famous to the infamous to the nonfamous are still pouring in. People are still updating their Twitter and Facebook accounts with more tweets and statuses about Jack days after the fact. They’re talking about it all over the place, too, not just online. It’s a really heart felt national tragedy, one that has overshadowed plane crashes and other tragedies that have also gone on during this time.

While thinking about all this, though, I had another thought.

Would Canadians be mourning as much if Stephen Harper had died the other day instead of Jack Layton?

Pfffttt!!! LMFAO!!! R U kiddin’ me???

I don’t care if Harpo is the Primo Ministerio. I don’t care if he got the popular vote in the last election not that long ago. Those voters don’t have the capacity for sympathy the NDP voters have. If they did, they’d never have voted for Stevo and his inconsiderate policies. They might take a moment to think “too bad” he died, but they’d be immediately be wondering who could take his place so as not to give ground to any of those things they stood to benefit from because of Harper’s elitist policies.

So if Harper had died mid-career like Jack did, how might Canadians have reacted?

Hmmm. Let me think how I might describe this in short so you could get an idea…

Do you remember the moment Joe Carter hit that walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in 1993 to give the Toronto Blue Jays their second World Series win?

What do you think happened all across this country at that moment?

Or how’s about when Sidney Crosby scored the 2010 Olympics Hockey gold medal winning goal in overtime?

That’s how I imagine Canada would have react if it had been Stephen Harper who had died instead of Jack Layton.

OK. That was a bit insensitive for the sake of humour. But you remember that was only humour that affected nobody to any extent, unlike Harpo’s policies that makes lives more miserable for many.

Yet, people elected him as our Prime Minister. Makes Jack Layton’s death all the more tragic.

Rest in peace, Jack.