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'Ed's back!'

Broadcast Date: June 15, 2004

Even the most charitable hip-hopper wouldn't give Ed Broadbent many props for his rhyming. But a rap music video starring Broadbent is a hit on the NDP website. Broadbent jumped back into politics for the 2004 election, and a satirical TV program made the video but decided not to air it. As this CBC News clip shows, the Broadbent campaign began using it instead. But the Conservative candidate came back with a dis, claiming the video was an illegal campaign contribution.

'Ed's back!'

• Once he returned to Canada from England in 1997, Broadbent chaired a panel on accountability and governance probing the fundraising practices and accountability of Canadian charities. The panel concluded that charities should have more freedom to advocate non-partisan political issues, but that they should also be held more accountable.
• Broadbent also taught political theory at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

• In 1999 Broadbent was back on Parliament Hill. It was the 10th anniversary of Broadbent's last accomplishment in Parliament: the unanimous passing of his resolution pledging to end child poverty by the year 2000. Broadbent was back on the Hill to protest the resolution's failure as a reported one in five Canadian children continued to live in poverty.

• Shortly after Paul Martin took over the reins for the Liberal Party in December 2003, Ed Broadbent announced he would run in an election when Martin called it.
• Broadbent was wooed back into politics by NDP leader Jack Layton, who took over the party in January 2003. "Unlike some people on the left, who get their jollies in life by winning debates, Jack actually likes to do something," Broadbent told the Globe and Mail.

• Layton was thrilled to have Broadbent on his team. When Broadbent made his announcement on Dec. 18, 2003, Layton said it was one of the best Christmas gifts he had ever received.
• Broadbent was 67 when he decided to run again, this time in an Ottawa riding. When he announced his candidacy, he said: "I'm two years older than Mr. Martin but when it comes to ideas, I'm two decades younger."

• The Broadbent rap video was produced by an independent TV production house under contract to the program This Hour Has 22 Minutes. When 22 Minutes rejected the video as too partisan, its producer offered it to the NDP instead.
• The Conservatives complained to Elections Canada, claiming the value of the video exceeded the $1,000 legal limit for campaign contributions.
• The NDP said it cleared the video with Elections Canada before putting it online.

• Some of the lyrics to Broadbent's rap video were:
I'm the one you all should know,
Once more popular than Trudeau.
Voters deserve a kick at the can,
Come out now Martin, fight like a man.
I'll melt the ice like a warm chinook,
With social justice and a great left hook.
Guess who's back. Ed's back.
Guess who's back. Ed's back.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,
It's time for voting NDP.

'Ed's back!'

Medium: Television

Program: Canada Now

Broadcast Date: June 15, 2004

Guest(s): Caplan Barry, Carol MacIvor, Tom Thompson

Reporter: Danny Globerman

Duration: 1:58

Film credit: Barry Caplan, TV Factory

Last updated:
April 3, 2008