Jack Layton, 61, Dies

The leader of the NDP, the Official Opposition, and the nation's conscience succumbs to cancer.

Jack Layton, the leader of the New Democratic Party and the leading voice of progressive politics in Canada, died early Monday morning at the age of 61 due to cancer. Layton is reported to have passed away peacefully at 4:45 this morning. Layton had revealed that he was suffering from a second case of cancer last month, just weeks after leading the NDP to its greatest electoral showing in history and becoming the Official Opposition for the first time. Under Layton's guidance, the NDP surged from 15 seats in the House of Commons in 2004 to 103 seats this year, with a breakthrough in Quebec solidifying his party as the main federalist option in that province. Layton, who was optimistic that he'd return to Parliament once it convened in September, looked frail at that July news conference, his booming voice reduced to little more than a whisper. He leaves behind his wife, fellow NDP MP Olivia Chow, and two children, Michael, a Toronto city councillor like his father before him, and Sarah.