Today marks the 4th Anniversary of Jack Layton's passing.
As we remember him, I want to celebrate what an inspiration he was to me.
The first time I met Jack was during Jagmeet Singh's 2011 campaign.
The 2011 federal campaign was exciting time, it was our first campaign together, it was entirely run by youth and it was motivated by our desire to bring change to Brampton.
During the early days of the campaign, I remember that we were regularly told that it would be impossible for us to win - we needed 20,000 votes in an area where the NDP averaged about 6,000, but we believed in ourselves and we believed that anything was possible.
And then it happened, on April 21, 2011 Jack Layton came to Brampton for a rally. We were unsure of what the turnout at our rally would be, would it be a few dozen or a couple hundred that would show up to support us?
As we prepared to have Jack Layton and Jagmeet Singh address the crowd, I remember Jack gathered all the youth and told us that we were going to make history in Brampton - and, he was right.
As we stepped into the hall, one thousand supporters were there to welcome us. It was undeniable that Jack's message of love, hope and optimism was contagious and that Brampton was ready for change.
On August 22, 2011 we lost Jack to cancer. But, his legacy of love, hope and optimism lives on.
It is an honour and privilege to be the candidate for Brampton East, but it's also equally as humbling. Everyday, when I walk into our campaign office, I imagine how proud and excited Jack would be to see dozens of families and youth working so hard to make Canada a better place.
He would be so proud to see that the Orange Wave lives on through the work of MPP Jagmeet Singh, City Councillor Gurpreet Dhillon and School Board Trusee Harkirat Singh.
Jack said we would make history and he was right.
In 2011, Jack Layton started started something special and on October 19th I hope to have your support in helping Tom Mulcair finish what he started.
Harbaljit Singh Kahlon is a community builder, organizer and candidate for the federal NDP in Brampton East.
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