After the dramatic, recent federal election which saw his New Democratic Party jump from fourth place to second in total seats in the House of Commons, jack laton has been forced to tmproarily step aside from his role as leader of the Official opposition and leader of the NDP.
Mr. Layton held a news confence today to announce his decision to step aside and seek treatment for a new cancer, unrelated to the prostate cancer he beat last year. Following that and a broken hip, he ran a very energetic campaign and displaced the Liberals as the Official Opposition.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/...
While Parliament is in summer recess, following a short session after the election, there is much to do for the NDP. Still organizing itself, with so many rookie MPs and new to politics, the summer will be an important time of activity for the NDP caucus and for constituency work.
His likely stand-in replacement is Nycole Turmel, a rookie MP and a former president of the Public Service Alliance, Canada's largest federal public service union. I knew a bit of her, from the management side of the table. Bitter, chippy, odd, often doing in her own senior staff with dumb moves, etc. Never quite figured out how she got to that level. This may get interesting.
Some folks are wondering why he did not recommend Thomas Mulcair, one of the deputy leaders, to back him up. Mulcair is a fully bilingual Montreal MP, lots of experience and a stint as a provincial Liberal cabinet minister in Quebec. The official explanation is that Mulcair and Libby Davies from BC are the two deputy leaders, while Turmel is the caucus Chair. My guess is that Mulcair, who has a large ego, has had his eye on Jack's job too much.
Layton is a thoroughly decent man, with strong progressive instincts. I wish him the very best for speedy recovery, as we will need him in the House in September to face up to our newly crowned majority, Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and some of the wackos in his party.