(Image source: The Globe and Mail)
BY TRACY PFEIFFER
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
You're watching multisource politics news analysis from Newsy.
Canadian Opposition Leader Jack Layton has passed away at the age of 61, after losing a second battle with cancer.
Layton was the head of Canada’s New Democratic Party before taking medical leave.
He was the most electorally successful leader in the party’s history-- helping bolster its number of Parliamentary seats to an unprecedented 103 in the 2011 elections.
ROSEMARY BARTON, CBC NEWS: “His battle was painful and very public. And as the federal election loomed, there were questions about whether he could handle it-- but he did. Fighting through it, keeping up a dynamic pace, using his cane as a symbol of his tenacity, and eventually leading the NDP to a whole new level of success.”
JACK LAYTON: “Just look at how many NDP MPs are here today. I better keep it short before they call in the fire marshall.”
Reports say Layton had indicated this latest round of health troubles was worse than the first-- but a blogger for the Ottawa Citizen says, the news was still hard to believe.
“You never think that someone of Layton’s stature will die in the pinnacle of his career and life despite all evidence to the contrary. Thus I was shocked like most people when news broke on Monday that he had died. Most of us are optimists and expected or hoped for him to pull through.”
A writer for the National Post says-- Layton’s native Quebec has lost an icon.
“Quebecers had been slowly warming to him since he became leader in 2003. ...His embrace of progressive causes and openness to Quebec’s constitutional demands struck a chord. ...Quebecers love an underdog, and the cane he used during the last campaign only enhanced the image of Mr. Layton as a scrappy battler.”
In an interview with CBC Radio -- former NDP party leader Ed Broadbent says -- the politics will go on -- but the party will try to stay true to Layton’s vision.
ED BROADBENT: “The tragic reality is that the New Democratic Party will have to begin a leadership contest. Jack knew that. We all knew that once it became clear in recent days that the end was in sight. So the party will pick up at this extraordinarily high point where Jack has left it...”
Finally, The Globe and Mail has a final letter from Layton to his followers, friends, and colleagues. He wrote...
“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.”
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