Canada’s New Democratic Leader Layton Has Cancer (Update1)
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook Email Print A A A
By Greg Quinn
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Layton, leader of Canada’s opposition New Democratic Party, said he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will remain in the job as he seeks treatment.
“My treatment plan is now under way,” Layton, 59, told reporters in Toronto today. “I will be carrying on” as party leader, he said.
Layton’s father had the same type of cancer, and he “fought it and won,” Layton said. Olivia Chow, Layton’s wife and a New Democratic member of Parliament from Toronto, has battled cancer too, he said.
Layton has led the New Democrats since January 2003, when the party had 14 seats in the House of Commons. Their total has increased to 37, of the 308 seats in the chamber.
Layton has sought increased spending on jobless benefits and said he would support Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s governing Conservatives as long as Parliament was “working.” Harper’s Conservatives hold a minority of seats and need at least one opposition party to pass legislation and stay in power.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: February 5, 2010 15:33 EST
Business Exchange
Twitter
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
LinkedIn
Newsvine
Propeller