He was indeed very left of left, however he was a passionate patriot for Canada, a tireless advocate for his cause, and most of all he was honest about who he was and didn’t seem to stoop to the type of crap the Democrats here are known for.
If you admire nothing else about him admire that he never backed down from his cause. He took a 3rd rate party confined to the Maritimes to the official opposition. He certainty earned his respect.
zero respect, he did nothing to be opposition, I said it before, I’ll say it again, people were fed up with Liberals threatening elections all the time and they were punished. People voted anyone but liberal, so the Conservatives benefited, as did the NDP. They were just there, they did nothing to earn it, it was just natural fallout for the Liberal party being hated so much. So I wouldn’t go waving any flag for him, nor would I EVER call him patriotic. As an ex 2PPCLI soldier of 10 years and 3 tours, I find that extremely offensive, and I emphasize extremely.