Jack Layton's opening speech - It's time to choose change

Good morning.

Today, Stephen Harper announced he is quitting as Prime Minister.

And so, today I’m applying for his job.

Unlike Stephen Harper, I’ll be a Prime Minister who puts you and your family first.

Unlike Stephen Harper, I’ll act on the priorities of the kitchen table, not just the boardroom table.

I’ll be a Prime Minister who’ll bring change not just from the past 25 months but change from the past 25 years.

Friends, the people who’ve been running this place behind me promised you they’d protect your job.

They didn’t.

And I’ve stood with many of you who have paid the price.

Like a father and son in Kenora – co-workers in their mill – who told me what it’s like to box up equipment they’ve worked with  for years - so the company they worked for could ship it – and their jobs -- off to China.

There are over 150 new stories like that written every day in Canada.

The people who have been running this place behind me promised you they’d help make daily life more affordable.

They didn’t.

And today record numbers of Canadians are drowning in consumer debt – while more and more families just like yours are having a tougher and tougher time making ends meet.

They promised they’d reduce your health care wait times.

Well, they didn’t do that either.

And today, 5 million Canadians don’t have a family doctor.

They promised you they’d tackle the climate change crisis and protect the environment.

They didn’t get it done.

And today our polar ice caps are disappearing, our sea levels are rising and over 20,000 Canadians are dying each year, from air pollution.

I know first-hand what it’s like to rush an asthmatic child to the emergency ward on a smog day. No mom, dad or child should have to go through that experience.   

You and I know that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Over the last five years, we’ve built a very impressive team of New Democrats. Women and men with experience at every level of Government.

We’re ready.

And so, in this election, voting for the New Democrats means:

• Supporting a vision of hope and optimism,
• Choosing change that moves us forward, not backward.

Here’s the kind of change I’m proposing.

Real change, for the economy. For health care. For the environment.

I’ll stop tax cuts for companies who don’t need them, or who ship our jobs overseas.

Instead, we’ll invest that money with companies that provide training, and are innovating in the new energy economy and green collar jobs.

We’ll invest in your kids so they can get the education they deserve without mortgaging their future.

And we’ll stop the shameful rip-offs and gouging by cellphone giants, banks, and credit card companies.

We’ll shorten health care wait lists not by making more empty promises but by training more doctors and nurses.

And I won’t stand idly by and wait when tainted meat, or bad water, or any public health emergency threatens your families’ health.

We’ll make sure Canada lives up to the challenge of climate change – not with Mr Harper’s idle words or by taxing you and your family – but with tough laws that force polluters to clean up the mess they’ve made.

We’ll invest in solutions that’ll create thousands of sustainable jobs and make environmental choices more affordable for you and your family.

We have obligations to future generations.

I believe that Canada can stand tall on the world stage.

I believe we can say goodbye to the George Bush era in our own conduct abroad.

I believe we can take the lead in world-wide efforts for peace and development.

I believe we can bring balance and pride to Canada’s voice at the tables of La Francophonie, the Commonwealth and United Nations.

Winds of change are blowing south of the border and many Canadians are catching that sense of optimism for a better North America – and indeed a better world.

We can choose that kind of optimism for Canada too, that hope for something better.

Instead of a place where growing corporate wealth benefits only the few—

We can build a Canada that looks after one another – that is as compassionate at home as it is competitive aboard.

Instead of a place where our first peoples live in third world conditions--

We can strive for social and economic equality for all.  

Instead of Mr. Harper’s approach, that views immigrants and newcomers as little more than economic units—

We can build a Canada that fulfills its promise to all who come here – from every corner of the globe – seeking a better life for themselves and their kids.

Doing things the way they’ve been done for the last 25 years won’t build that Canada, but choosing change that moves us forward will.

And the first step toward that change is electing a Prime Minister who puts you and your family first.

On October 14, I’m asking you for your support to be that Prime Minister.  

Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.