Layton brought great change to Toronto, Canada

DAVID NICKLE, Inside Toronto

Jack Layton came to Toronto Council with a mop of unkempt hair, a wardrobe well-stocked with blue jeans, and a pair of big, nerdy glasses. By the time he was finished, he had transformed himself and the city - bringing cycling into the mainstream, pushing public smoking to the fringe and the environment and anti-poverty issues to the forefront of public debate.

Over the 22 years of his involvement in city politics, Layton cut his hair close, trimmed his moustache, switched to contacts and suit pants. In the months before he passed away, he led the federal New Democratic Party on an historic journey that ended with the fourth party becoming the official Opposition for the first time - and arguably brought Quebec voters back to a federalist party.

Layton died early Monday Aug. 22 at the age of 61 in the Toronto home he shared with his wife and fellow MP Olivia Chow. His passing followed an unsuccessful fight against the second of two cancers with which he had been diagnosed. In an open letter he wrote days before he died, he told Canadians:

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful, and optimistic. And we'll change the world."

Layton began his own journey in 1950, born into a Quebec political dynasty. His great-grand-uncle, William Steeves, was one of the fathers of Confederation; his grandfather Gilbert Layton was a minister in Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale government in Quebec, and his father Robert Layton served as a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister under Brian Mulroney.

Layton married Sally Halford in 1969 - by whom he had two children, Mike Layton (current councillor for Ward 19) and Sarah Layton. That marriage ended in 1983, a year after he was first elected to Toronto Council. Then, he defeated incumbent Gordon Chong in the city's downtown, and quickly became one of the leading voices of the left on Toronto Council.

Over his early career, he advocated for the rights of AIDS patients - eventually successfully advocating for programs such as the needle exchange, which helped prevent the spread of the disease in Toronto. He supported cycling, helping establish the city's first bike lanes, and fought against the bid for the 1996 Olympics.

He was an early promoter of public smoking bans, and an environmentalist, helping to establish the Toronto Atmospheric Fund and the deep lake water cooling system that was eventually established and maintained by Enwave.

He started the White Ribbon Campaign, which shows support by men for an end to violence against women. And he helped devise and establish Toronto's distinctive bike ring lockups, using old parking meter stands with a metal ring attached.

During that time, he also met and married his wife and political partner Olivia Chow - who was a school trustee at the time. The two met at a Village by the Grange auction in 1985, where Layton was auctioneer and Chow was translating into Cantonese.

The two married, and eventually Chow joined Layton on Toronto Council, becoming what Toronto Centre-Rosedale Councillor Pam McConnell - a fellow New Democrat and friend of Layton - called "the perfect couple in the sense of yin and yang. He was so articulate - he could spin a tale and talk - and she could maneuver and strategize. The combination was very powerful."

Layton had political ups and downs.

In 1991, he ran for Mayor of Toronto against June Rowlands and Betty Disero. He lost, although Chow won her seat on Toronto Council. Defeated, Layton returned to academia for two years, then in 1994 returned to Metro Council. During the 1990s he ran federally several times but finally was elected to the new City of Toronto as councillor for what would become Ward 32 (Toronto-Danforth).

There, Layton dealt with various local issues - including the demolition of the Gardiner Expressway between the Don Valley Parkway and Leslie Street, and the redevelopment of the Brewer's Retail site into a Canadian Tire store. He courted the enmity of some constituents by consistently opposing parking pads in his ward - an opposition that spread to the wards of other left-leaning councillors, who agreed with Layton that the parking pads reduced greenspace and created problems in groundwater.

Layton also became an unlikely ally with Mayor Mel Lastman, helping the newly amalgamated administration develop an anti-homelessness strategy. It was during that time that he emerged as President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, moving Toronto into a leadership role on national urban issues.

In 2003, Layton was elected leader of the federal New Democratic Party with the endorsement of former leader Ed Broadbent. He didn't attempt to gain a seat by asking for a byelection, but waited until the next federal election in 2004, where he ran - for the second time - against incumbent Liberal Dennis Mills and won.

Layton led the federal New Democratic Party through three more elections - the last one, this spring, seeing the party grow by an unprecedented degree.

In the 2011 election, Layton impressed many Canadians by campaigning vigorously while recuperating from a broken hip and finishing up treatment for diagnosed prostate cancer. When the votes were tallied, Layton was the leader of the official Opposition - an historic first for a New Democratic Party leader.

But he and Chow spent little time there.

On July 25, Layton told Canadians that he had been diagnosed with a second cancer and would step down until the fall to concentrate on treatments.

A state funeral for Layton will be held at Roy Thomson Hall this Saturday, Aug. 27 at 2 p.m.