– Tommy Douglas on the erosion of Medicare in 1979 [launches .mp3 file]
This morning I woke up to CBC radio interviewing Jack Layton and it got me fired up again. Jack mentioned that on his ipod he’s got some old speeches from Tommy Douglas that Olivia downloaded for him. In Sam Bulte’s books, I guess that makes Olivia a ‘pro-user zeolot’, but that’s another matter.
I went looking for these old speeches and, although the NDP site has a podcast page and promises of old Tommy Douglas speeches, I couldn’t find any (if I’m missing the page, please someone give me the link.)
After a quick google search, I found Ravi Joshi’s blog ravijo.net. Joshi is the podcasting brains behind NDP candidate Phil Allt’s website and his latest post contains a great mp3 of Tommy Douglas speaking about the erosion of public healthcare.
The speech is from 1979 but it’s as relevant today as it was back then. The audio file is only a few minutes long and it is worth listening to if not for its message on healthcare, but to hear the passion in Tommy’s voice (he is the Greatest Canadian, after all.) I don’t hear this honesty in any of the Conservative or Liberal candidates. Admittedly, it’s hard to convey passion in the 5 second soundbites mainstream media allows its viewers and listeners.
Get beyond the soundbites of this election, grab a coffee and 5 minutes and listen to the message of Tommy in 1979. It’s as important today as it was back then.
Also worth listening to: Charlie Angus on why strategic voting sucks [launches .mp3 file]
Remember: Jack will be talking to Peter Mansbridge during the National tonight. Visit cbc.ca/national/ to find out when it’s on in you timezone.
tagged: [ndp] [Layton] [Tommy_Douglas]
