Posted on 08/22/2011 9:39:09 AM PDT by fanfan
OTTAWA - Jack Layton, the leader of the official Opposition, died early Monday morning, his family said.
Layton, 61, had been battling cancer for more than a year and, a month ago, announced he was temporarily stepping aside from his job to fight the disease.
Layton's immediate family -- his wife, MP Olivia Chow, and his children, Sarah and Michael -- issued a statement at about 8:30 a.m. Monday morning.
"We deeply regret to inform you that The Honourable Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, passed away at 4:45 am today, Monday, Aug. 22. He passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family and loved ones. Details of Mr. Layton's funeral arrangements will be forthcoming."
Earlier this year, Layton led the New Democratic Party to its best electoral showing in the party's history.
Quebec MP Nycole Turmel had temporarily assumed leadership duties when Layton stepped aside last month.
Layton was born July 18, 1950 in Montreal and was raised in Hudson, Que. His father, Robert Layton, was a Progressive Conservative cabinet member and his grandfather, Gilbert Layton, was a Quebec cabinet minister.
Layton studied political science at McGill University before moving to Toronto in 1970 to continue his studies. He obtained his PhD in political science from York University and then became a professor at Ryerson University.
His political career began when he became a city councillor in Toronto in
1982 and served as acting deputy mayor and as a member of the Toronto Port Authority. He opposed the building of the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) and also opposed Toronto's bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
He ran for mayor in 1991, but lost to June Rowlands. He became head of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities before moving into federal politics.
Layton took over for Alexa McDonough to become leader of the New Democrats in 2003, and was elected MP for the Toronto-Danforth riding in June 2004.
Since then, Layton has been the face of the party, and led them to new heights of success in the most recent election when the NDP ascended to the ranks of official opposition for the first time.
Layton married his high school sweetheart, Sally Halford, in 1969 when he was 19. They had two children together but the marriage ended in 1983.
He married Olivia Chow in 1988. Shortly after the wedding, Chow joined Layton on Toronto council. She also became an NDP MP in 2006. He became a grandfather in the summer of 2009.
Layton has had a public struggle with cancer since announcing on Feb. 5, 2010, that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
His father had also had prostate cancer 17 years earlier and recovered from it. His wife, Chow, also battled thyroid cancer.
Layton vowed to defeat it.
"Like my dad, I am a fighter and I am going to beat this," Layton told reporters.
But last month, Layton called a press conference in Toronto to announce he was battling a new cancer and would be stepping down temporarily from the NDP leadership to focus on his health.
“...We have more freedom than you do right now...”
Ha! You may be right!!!! Sure as hell seems that way at the moment.
I’m still a U.S. citizen. I grew up in rural southern Oregon, and still consider mystelf primarily an Oregon boy—but the economy in the area has been taking it on the chin for over 30 years. I knew in the late 80’s that there was no future in the area—my parents and most of my siblings ended up moving to Ohio in the 90’s. In 2000 I had a chance to get on board with a fledgling liberal arts college in rural Ontario. The environment and the people remind me more of rural Oregon than any place I’ve been in the states east of the Mississippi.
Given the comparative state of the Canadian economy to the U.S. economy, I’m planning on staying put for the moment. Four kids and a house also ground one.
I do not think what MFHale was that offensive. Many Freepers have no idea the evil that the left wish they could visit upon us. I am certain that many of our leftist leaders, if they could have the power that Stalin or Hitler had, would NOT hesitate to kill millions of conservatives. The left is that evil.
One day soon, we will truly see the face of the evil left in America. If a conservative wins in Nov 2012, then the time between then and the Inauguration day in Jan 2013 will be quite interesting.
I wonder why they are hiding it. What kind of cancer can be embarrassing?
In private, he have been a nice and decent man, and by all accounts he was.
but in his political life, he was a predictably knee jerk leftist, who clung tightly to the same old tired leftist fantasies and cliches. There really wasn’t any special about him or his ideas.
Wouldn’t he have to accept God first, and not the other way around?
Quite true all the way around. I was going to say that some people improve a country by leaving it and today Mr. Layton has done the best thing for Canada he ever did.
I understand your motivation for feeling the way you do, but we also have to be decorous and have more refinement than liberals.
And Chairman Mao...
And Joseph Stalin...
Excuse us if we don't get all choked up over another Socialist dying.
No one deserves cancer, but some don't deserve to be wasting oxygen either...
Well that might have been a bit over the top.
Well if he was referring to Pierre Trudeau, then I would agree.
Concur. I always wonder at the audacity of atheists to spend their lives denouncing God and doing ungodly things and then when they die they get all upset if Christians have no expectations for the salvation of atheists.
Atheists are going to hell when they die. If they don’t believe that then it shouldn’t bother them if someone else does.
Instead, we play nice...
How's that working out for us?
"the party has emphasized their plan to push Canada beyond the status quo of state-funded abortion-on-demand, promising to actually promote greater access to abortion across the country.
NDP leader Jack Layton emphasized the party’s commitment to abortion..."
And 3 1/2 months later he is dead. Hopefully more babies will live now.
That's not exactly something to be proud of.
Having read the comments first, I can only add that we Canucks could have done a lot worse in the position of NDP Leader than Smilin’ Jack, and we will probably be saddled with a new Official Opposition leader who lacks the decency and humility of Jack, even if they are no more left wing than he was.
CBC Radio’s coverage of his death is certainly bringing out the best(as well as the most hypocritical) in the politicians and journalists being canvassed.
May God rest his soul.
“...You’ve taken a lot of grief for this comment. ...”
It rolls off me, brother. Doesn’t change the fact of what I said.
People that support socialism are on the same playing field with all of those warm, fuzzy, well-intentioned good hearted socialists of history.
Friend to a friend, foe to the foe. Ain’t no in-between.
“...but we also have to be decorous and have more refinement than liberals...”
Not in my nature, good brother. I’ve got dead and maimed family members thanks to that ideology.
And thanks for your support. You’re a good man.
No offense fanfan, but I can carry my .40 when I go out to the store. I can still criticize Islam in a public forum. I'm not forced to finance a state-owned television network. Out media isn't forced by law to devote 40% of its airtime to domestic music and TV programs. I have far more freedom in health care (so far.)
You can always pull Ed Broadbent out of mothballs.
Like I said...some Canadian kids now have a chance at a future.
So he was committed right up to the end. Original comment stands as it is.
Thanks.
“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956)
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