Jack Layton

John Gilbert "Jack" Layton PC ( born July 18, 1950 in Montreal, Quebec; † August 22, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario ) was a Canadian politician and professor of political science. The former city councilor and deputy mayor of Toronto was from January 2003 President of the Socialist New Democratic Party ( NDP). From June 2004 until his death he was a deputy in the lower house and represented the constituency of Toronto - Danforth.

Family, work and local politics

Layton came from a traditional family of politicians. His great-great uncle William Steeves was one of the Fathers of Confederation, his grandfather Gilbert Layton member of the Québec provincial government of Maurice Duplessis and his father Robert Layton in the 1980 lower house deputy and minister of mines in the progressive- conservative government of Brian Mulroney.

Jack Layton was raised in Hudson, a predominantly English-speaking suburb of Montreal. He studied political science at McGill University in Montreal and at York University in Toronto, where he graduated in 1971 as Master of Arts. In 1984 he earned the degree of Ph. D. and then worked as a professor at Ryerson University. In the same year he divorced his first wife, Sally Halford, whom he had married a 19 - year-old. Since 1988, he was married to Olivia Chow, who also sits for the NDP in the House.

1982 Layton was first elected to the City Council of Toronto, where he soon established himself as a leading figure of the NDP Group. He vehemently opposed the SkyDome project, sat for the rights of AIDS sufferers and was co-founder of the White Ribbon Movement. He, too, was among the opponents of Toronto's candidacy for the Olympic Games 1996. 1991 he was a candidate for the office of mayor, but was defeated by the conservative opposition candidates and made ​​his City Council mandate on. In 1994 he was elected to the city council and was this ever since uninterruptedly. 1993 and 1997, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons. 2001/ 02 he was president of the Canadian Association of Municipalities.

Chairman of the NDP

On January 25, 2003 Layton was elected at the party conference in Toronto as the new Chairman of the NDP and joined in the footsteps of Alexa McDonough. He did not appear to be a by-election for a seat in the House of Commons, as is tradition for party chairman was previously not represented in Parliament. Instead, he waited for the general election in 2004 from. On 28 June 2004 he was elected in the constituency of Toronto - Danforth; the NDP increased its share of the vote, although almost double, but scored only a few seat gains.

The Liberal Party, which formed a minority government was dependent on the support of the NDP. This prevailed, that planned tax breaks for companies were canceled and instead, more money flowed into social programs. With the support of the NDP, the Liberal government of Paul Martin survived in May 2005 twice a vote of no confidence. When the Liberals refused further concessions in November 2005, Layton withdrew his support. The subsequent vote of no confidence was successful and sparked the general election of 2006.

In the elections on 23 January 2006, the NDP was able to increase its number of seats from 19 to 29. The Conservative Party of Stephen Harper became the strongest force, but missed the majority representation significantly. This allowed the NDP to continue to put pressure on the government and enforce some of their demands, especially a stricter environmental legislation. At the party congress in September 2006, Layton was confirmed with 92 % of the vote as chairman of the NDP. In the general election, Layton led the NDP 2011 by far the best results in its history when it won 103 seats and rose to become the second largest party.

In February 2010, Layton was first announced publicly that he was suffering from prostate cancer and had gone into treatment. On July 25, 2011, he gave the party chairmanship from temporarily after his doctors had found a new tumor. Layton was planning to resume his work as chairman in September at the start of the new parliamentary session. On August 22, 2011, he died at the age of 61 years at his home in Toronto.

Works

  • Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis. ISBN 0-14-028888-0
  • Speaking Out: Ideas that Work For Canadians. ISBN 1-55263-577-5
  • Speaking Out ​​Louder: Ideas that Work For Canadians. ISBN 1-55263-688-7 ( revised and expanded edition of Speaking Out)
New Democratic Party (Canada) Canadian federal election, 2004 Liberal Party of Canada Canadian federal election, 2006 Canadian federal election, 2011 CTV Television Network David Lewis (politician)
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