Dick Proctor, former Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MP, sees a rich irony in the fact that Jack Layton was the only leader in the party’s 50-year history never to win a Saskatchewan seat.
“We haven’t done as well on the Prairies under Jack as we have elsewhere but I believe he won the leadership in 2003 because of the Prairies,” Proctor recalled Aug. 22 from his Victoria home.
Earlier that day, 61-year-old Layton died after a battle with cancer, less than four months after leading the party to an historic result — 103 seats, 59 Quebec seats and for the first time the official opposition in Parliament.
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In 2002, after two failed attempts to become Toronto’s mayor and two failed attempts to become an MP, the son of a former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister ran for the NDP leadership.
Just two of 13 MPs in caucus supported him, none from the Prairies. He was running against Saskatchewan MP Lorne Nystrom and Manitoba MP Bill Blaikie.
“In those days, the membership base still was here (in the West),” said Proctor. “Membership support was key to winning.”
So Layton and his wife Olivia Chow borrowed a Regina house from a friend in late 2002 and travelled the Prairies in the weeks leading to the Jan. 25, 2003 leadership vote that he won on the first ballot. “He knew this is where the votes are. I think that tipped the balance.”
Proctor, a former NDP caucus chair and chief of staff to Layton, said he blames the party’s lack of prairie success, including just three seats in the last election, on the decline of provincial NDP fortunes, particularly in Saskatchewan.
Layton served just three weeks as opposition leader before the House of Commons adjourned for the summer in June.
In late July, he announced that while the prostate cancer he had fought for several years (and that killed his father, Robert) was in check, a new cancer had been detected and he was temporarily stepping aside as leader. Hull-Aylmer rookie MP Nycole Turmel is serving as interim leader.
In a “letter to Canadians” written two days before he died, Layton suggested the NDP elect a new leader early in 2012 “so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program and move forward towards the next election.”
Tributes to Layton were fulsome and non-partisan.
“Jack Layton will be remembered for the force of his personality and his dedication to public life,” prime minister Stephen Harper told reporters. “We have all lost an engaging personality and a man of strong principles.”
From the other side of the spectrum, National Farmers Union president Terry Boehm issued a statement that called Layton, a Toronto MP, a friend of Canadian farmers.
“Jack Layton was a good friend of the Canadian farmer and a fervent defender of the Canadian Wheat Board and supply management,” said the statement. “He will be sorely missed by the NFU.”
On Parliament Hill, Canadian flags were flying at half-staff Aug. 22 since Layton was a member of the Privy Council of Queen’s advisers, nominated by prime minister Paul Martin in 2005 although it is an honour usually reserved for federal cabinet ministers.
Interim NDP leader Turmel said Layton was the architect of the May 2 election breakthrough.
“Jack was a courageous man,” Turmel said. “It was his leadership that inspired me and so many others to run for office. We, Members of Parliament, New Democrats and Canadians, need to pull together now and carry on his fight to make this country a better place.”
