Olivia Chow, unplugged

Olivia Chow, unplugged

Olivia Chow and the late Jack Layton

By The ORIGAMI Staff

Notwithstanding the return of the polar vortex-generated frigid weather, a standing-room only crowd packed the multi-purpose hall at Trinity-St. Paul United Church on Bloor St. West Jan. 22 for the launch of Olivia Chow’s book, My Journey.

Will she or won’t she – run for mayor that is – was clearly on the minds of many who hang on to Chow’s every word, lest they miss the much-anticipated announcement of this year’s political season in Toronto. Chow, (MP for Trinity-Spadina, NDP) is being touted as the key challenger to Toronto City Mayor Rob Ford, who has been stripped of mayoral powers and continues to be hounded by a scandal involving drug and alcohol abuse.

But after nearly an hour of being interview on stage by filmmaker and CBC broadcaster Sook-Yin Lee, no such declaration came from Chow. Well, she wasn’t even asked, and the audience was too polite to holler the question.

Nonetheless, the crowd (enthusiastic Chow die-hards, political pundits, members of the media, and Chow’s family, including her mother, Ho Sze Chow, and late husband Jack Layton’s mother, Doris Layton) got a glimpse of what makes Chow tick.

Photo courtesy of THE CANADIAN PRESS

At times introspective and most of the time, candid and funny, Chow revealed what it was like growing up with a father who took out his frustrations on his wife; she reflected on her family’s struggle as immigrants and how, in many ways, the personal became political for her. She related the story of how her mother, Ho Sze Chow, a former teacher in Hong Kong, couldn’t speak English when they settled in Toronto’s St. James Town high-rise community. So Ho Sze Chow became a maid, and later, a laundry woman at a downtown hotel. The latter job took its toll – she developed arthritis. When she retired, she received a lump sum pension of just over $3,000. “Later in my political life, I would come to understand the importance of a good pension plan so that seniors could retire in dignity. Her story would become a powerful motivating force,” said Chow, reading a passage from her book.

My Journey, said Chow, is a book about immigration, overcoming adversity, public service, and love. The chapters on love, of course, includes stories of what she calls the “unrelenting optimism” of Jack Layton, social democratic politician and leader of Canada’s official political opposition, who died of cancer in 2011.

(For full story, go to: http://theorigami.ca/2014/01/23/olivia-chow-unplugged/)