Winning friends, admirers...and prizes

The Globe and Mail has rightly named Ed Broadbent its Nation Builder of the Year for 2005:

Farewell, Honest Ed, the best prime minister Canada never had. In an era of contemptuous, mean-spirited public discourse, Mr. Broadbent is an oxymoron -- a decent Canadian politician...

"People always say there're no honest politicians," says Lowell Green, a right-wing commentator in Ottawa, who holds the record for North America's longest-running talk show. "I say, 'What about Ed Broadbent?' That shuts them up."...

Some think that he might have been prime minister if only he had led another party. Had he ever thought of attaching himself to the Liberals or Conservatives?

He stops smiling. "For me, it's just a non-starter. I am who I am. My first objective was not to have power, but to fight for what I believe in. And have power."

Goodbye, Mr. Decent. Canadians will miss you.

The entire article contains an interesting review of Broadbent's career, and deserves a read. While nobody can blame Broadbent for retiring in order to take care of his wife, there can be little doubt that Parliament will be worse off for his departure...or that there are some mighty big shoes to be filled in the NDP caucus.