January 28, 2024 | 28 janiver 2024 — Ottawa, Ontario

I want to acknowledge all the folks that are here today.

This is an incredible showing of love and support for a great man.

And I also want to acknowledge what an incredible honour it is for me to share some words with you today.

Ed and I would often be at events together, and anytime I had a chance to speak at an event that Ed would be at, I would always find a way to point him out in the crowd and invite people to applaud the great Ed Broadbent.

I don't know if he always wanted that type of attention at those events, but I did it anyways.

And then I would always say this: I would say looking Ed right in the eyes and say, “Ed, I want to be like you when I grow up.”

And he would always laugh as if I had just come up with a line. But it was something that I said every single time.

And he would always humor me with his great, generous, compassionate heart and laugh.

But I hope he knew how much I meant it.

I said, “I want to be Ed Broadbent when I grow up,” because, if you look at Ed's life, you see a life of incredible dedication to his vision for a better world.

A man who dedicated his life as a Member of Parliament, as a leader—and that would have been good.

He spent over a decade as leader, fighting for a better world, fighting for the working-class.

And then when he should have retired, he was then asked to run again by then leader Jack Layton, and then was a Member of Parliament again.

And then he had done his duty, had served the country, and he was not done.

In his retirement – many of us would spend our retirement doing many things – he decided to start an Institute in his name, the Broadbent Institute, but not just start it.

For folks that who are part of the Broadbent Institute will know, he dedicated his life to building that Institute.

He dedicated so much of his time and energy because he wanted to continue to be a voice for social democracy and for working people.

He spent his whole life fighting for people, fighting for justice, fighting for that fair world.

He never forgot who we fight for.

He made it very clear job of government, the job of elected people, is to fight for the vulnerable – not to protect the powerful.

He would never tell Canadians that our country is broken.

He would say that Canada ought to, and can, do so much more and be so much better when it comes to building that fair world.

He believed very strongly that government was a force for good, that it should protect people, it should lift up people.

He believed fundamentally that we are better off when we take care of each other.

Ed Broadbent croyait qu'il fallait utiliser le pouvoir du gouvernement pour faire le bien, pour s'attaquer aux plus puissants et protéger les plus vulnérables.

Il ne se contentait pas d'être la conscience du Parlement, il voulait être premier ministre.

Il ne s'en faisait pas de faux débats selon lesquels il faut choisir entre respecter ses principes et gagner les élections.

Il pensait qu'il fallait faire les deux.

Alors que nous pleurons la mort d'Ed Broadbent, nous nous engageons également à poursuivre son œuvre, l'héritage qu'il nous laisse et la conviction que le Canada peut et doit faire mieux.

I want to talk about that generosity, that spirit, of Ed Broadbent.

I remember when I first became leader, I was told I could give him a call, which was pretty intimidating, to call this living legend, to call Ed Broadbent, the third leader of the New Democratic Party.

But I was told I could call him and ask him for advice. And I asked him.

And he also offered me, he said, if you ever need help, don't hesitate to call.

And I did it. And I can tell you every single time I called, he said yes.

Anytime I needed help, he said yes.

Whether it was campaigning, whether it was for advice, he was always there for me.

But as a new leader, that maybe didn't fit the image of what people thought of when they thought of a national federal leader, I remember in particular, after winning the by-election in Burnaby, we were thinking about who would do the introduction for the first time that I would officially be a leader and as also a Member of Parliament.

And Ed Broadbent did that.

And he made it clear, with his respect that he commanded—someone not just respected by New Democrats but all Canadians–he made it clear that I belonged, and I'll always be eternally thankful for that.

He made it clear that New Democrats didn't have to enter into the false debate of whether we could keep our values and our principles or pursue power.

He said, we need to do both. People need us to do both.

They need us to remain true to our values, but also to be in a position to make life better for working people.

One of our final conversations came right after he had released his book.

He told me that he was proud of the work that we were doing.

He's proud of the fact that we brought in dental care, that this is continuing the legacy of Tommy Douglas, making sure we provided real support to real people.

He wanted me to do a lot more and a lot faster—very New Democrat of him.

And he also wanted to make sure that I never let the Liberals off the hook—also very New Democrat of him.

It's hard to believe I'll never have a chance to talk to him again, to hear his advice, to learn from his wisdom.

We will miss him.

We are so fortunate that he chose to spend his life in pursuit of his vision and his hope for justice and fairness for all.

We will never forget him.

And Ed, we won't let you down.

And you're still who I want to be when I grow up.

Thank you.