How old is jack layton

Share your thoughts on Layton's legacy, your personal reflections on the anniversary of his death or your view on how the NDP has fared in the year since. But if so, Canadians may be missing a key point about why people should care about the health of their would-be leaders, some experts say.

It's not about attempting to sully Layton's reputation or legacy. It's not even about Layton. It's about whether voters have the right to know if, to the best of their knowledge, politicians believe they'll be able to fulfil the role they're asking voters to give them. Lawrence Altman has explored the health of U. He says it's surprising that at this point in history a political leader could die of an undisclosed illness — and says it is unlikely American media outlets would have let the issue go easily.

Altman is researching a book he hopes to write about political leaders and their health status disclosure. It's up to the public to decide whether that illness interferes with the ability to carry out the functions of office or whether that person should be elected. But that's up to the electorate. The issue to me is that the electorate should be fully informed. Questions still linger about the degree of information Canadian voters had about the state of the NDP leader's health when they went to the polls in May of Layton had disclosed a February diagnosis of prostate cancer, though he never revealed what form of treatment he received for it.

By contrast, former federal Health Minister Allan Rock disclosed he had surgery when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer while in office. And Layton was vague about a surgery he'd undergone to repair a hip fracture incurred while exercising in March — an unusual event in a seemingly fit man of his age. This fracture figures prominently in a theory advanced by Dr. When a shockingly gaunt Layton, his voice barely recognizable, announced in July that he was temporarily stepping aside to again fight cancer, he told Canadians the new battle was against a second, previously undetected form of the disease.

Layton and his stronger team of MPs consistently held Stephen Harper to account—on job creation, affordability, health care wait times and fighting global warming. At the same time, he found ways to work across party lines to get results.

In , Layton brought the party to unprecedented heights. Canadians elected a record-breaking New Democrat MPs, representing every part of the country. Layton became leader of the largest Official Opposition in 31 years—and the first formed by New Democrats.

Through it all, Layton took strength from his family—his partner, and fellow Member of Parliament, Olivia Chow, children Sarah and Mike, and his granddaughter Beatrice. All the while, he seemed to never abandon the causes he held most dear: poverty, the environment, public transit, workers' rights. In the election, voters who had once seemed a little wary of the camera-loving politician appeared to finally connect with Layton, embracing his energy, his no-nonsense approach and his promises to represent the average Canadian in Parliament.

Many voters, particularly in Quebec, said it was Layton himself that drew them to vote for his party and push the NDP into official Opposition status. Layton had likely dreamed of reaching the higher echelons of power his whole life.

He had been steeped in politics from an early age, growing up in Hudson, Que. Layton's grandfather too was a cabinet minister, under Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale government in Quebec, and his great-great-uncle was one of the Fathers of Confederation. The Layton political legacy continues today, with his son, Mike, now a Toronto city councillor as well.

Layton became student council leader in high school and was voted by classmates as most likely to become a politician. Layton married at 19, wedding his high school sweetheart, Sally Halford.

But his marriage to Sally dissolved in , shortly after Layton decided to leave behind life as a politics professor at Ryerson University then called Ryerson Polytechnical Institute and make a run for Toronto city council. A few years later, Layton met Olivia Chow, who was then a school board trustee, and married her in She ran for Toronto city council in , the same year that Layton decided to make a bid for mayor. Layton lost badly to June Rowlands; but Chow won her council seat.

Many have credited Chow, an ambitious politician in her own right, as being one of Layton's greatest assets, acting as both his closest adviser and his soulmate. Together, Layton and Chow became Toronto's political power couple, fighting for public transit, the homeless and sustainable urban development.

As councillors, they were often accused of grandstanding, once wearing black gags to protest being silenced by other Toronto politicians when they attempted to object to a deal with Shell Oil.

Layton loved to spend time in the outdoors with Chow and cycled to work every day while in Toronto and worked out in the House of Commons gym every week while in Ottawa. But Layton did have some brushes with controversy. Toronto's solicitor cleared the couple of any wrong-doing, and the couple soon left the co-op and bought a house in Toronto's Chinatown. In the election, three days before voting day, it emerged that Layton had also been caught up in a sting on a Toronto massage parlour.

Layton insisted he had entered the salon seeking a legitimate shiatsu massage and didn't know the place was used for "illicit purposes. Despite the scandals and Layton's failed mayoralty bid, his ambitions didn't falter; they simply shifted. In , he decided to make a run for federal politics, vying for a seat in the riding of Rosedale. Again, he fared badly, finishing fourth. He pressed on with his Toronto city council duties, but in another example of his trademark energy, he also took on work as well as the head of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, where he said he broadened his understanding of the priorities of towns outside Toronto.

He ran again for MP in , this time in the riding of Toronto-Danforth but lost yet again, to longtime incumbent Liberal, Dennis Mills. Layton was finally able to make his move into federal politics in by taking over as leader of the NDP from outgoing leader Alexa McDonough.

He grabbed a seat in Parliament a year later, in the election. In that first federal election campaign in , Layton insisted to reporters without any irony that his aim was to increase the party's standings from 13 seats to