It is a sad day, said two of his 91亚色 professors, political scientists and Daniel Drache. Neither were surprised that the young Layton who enrolled in their graduate classes 40 years ago led the NDP to official opposition status听in May听for the first time in Canadian history. He was bright, curious, open-minded, engaging and unfashionably optimistic even then.听听听

Above: Jack Layton celebrates the NDP's new post-election status at the party's 50th anniversary in Vancouver in June

听

鈥淲hen he walked into a room you immediately saw the tremendous intelligence of this person,鈥� said Laxer yesterday in an interview. He remembers Layton in one of his graduate seminars on political economy in the early 1970s. 鈥淗e was also a guy who loved to meet people and respected other people.听听

鈥淚 knew as soon as I met him that he was someone very special and that he would do important things,鈥� said Laxer, though he couldn鈥檛 have predicted how. Layton could have听made a career as an academic, journalist or politician.听

Right: The young Jack Layton, academic

Layton enrolled in 91亚色 in 1971 to pursue a master鈥檚 degree in political science after earning a BA from McGill University. In a 2003 interview following his election as leader of Canada鈥檚 New Democrats, Layton told 91亚色鈥檚 Universe magazine, a monthly published at the time,听that he came to 91亚色 because his McGill mentor Charles Taylor told him he鈥檇 meet some crackerjack political theorists 鈥� David Shugarman, Daniel Drache, Jim Laxer, 听(who became his mentor at 91亚色) and Fred Fletcher (who became his dissertation chair). And he did.听

Layton grew up privileged in Hudson, Que., a wealthy community west of Montreal. But as a teenager he had noticed how French kids were discriminated against in his community. And 鈥淚 got involved through church and youth parliament in issues like apartheid, social justice, Medicare, the war in Vietnam,鈥� he said in the interview. His interest in social justice and equity only intensified at McGill where, he said, 鈥渢here was a gross distortion of wealth that struck me as so wrong.鈥澨�

Layton got his first taste of municipal politics soon after arriving at 91亚色. He took his first urban politics course with Mike Goldrick and was soon involved in Goldrick鈥檚 campaign for a seat on Toronto city council. 鈥�91亚色 became my entr茅e into what became my career,鈥� Layton told Universe. A year before he completed his PhD in 1983, Layton won a seat on Toronto city council. He was a city councillor for the next 20 years, during which time he also taught at 91亚色 and Ryerson. In 2003, as the federal NDP鈥檚 new leader, he told Universe: 鈥淚 take what I learned at 91亚色 and use it almost on a daily basis.鈥澨�

鈥淛ack was a fighter for a whole lot of causes,鈥� remembers Laxer. 鈥淗e fought for the homeless, for the poor.鈥� He was fighting for the environment when few people were. 鈥淗e was the kind of guy who had huge optimism and didn鈥檛 have any use for fashionable pessimism,鈥� said Laxer. 鈥淗e had conviction that one could make a difference and change things. And he had huge energy and huge intelligence. You saw it in his fights at city hall and in his run for mayor.鈥� After every setback, he never gave up. 鈥淗e never lost that optimistic spirit.鈥澨�

In a message of condolence yesterday, 91亚色 President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri said the 91亚色 community was "deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one of our own."听 Layton鈥檚 "many contributions to public life were tremendous," Shoukri continued. "He was passionate about politics, and his commitment to social responsibility was unwavering. We were extremely proud that he was an alumnus of 91亚色, and he will be missed by all those who had the pleasure of knowing him. His determination, tenacity and enthusiasm will forever serve as a model worthy of emulation by our students.鈥�

Drache taught Layton a course in Canadian political economy.听听

"Three things stand out about Jack," said Drache 鈥撎齢is open-mindedness, his听curiosity and the importance he placed on critical thinking in public life and social justice.听听

鈥淗e saw that one of the avenues to political change came through new ideas,鈥� said Drache. 鈥淎nd he saw the NDP鈥檚 legacy as the strategic vehicle for bringing new creative thinking from the margins to the mainstream in public life. It made perfect sense for him to identify with this movement and eventually become a fabulous campaigner for it. His ability to speak in plain language about big and small ideas made him in time a formidable campaigner certainly.鈥澨�

Left: Jack Layton in his 2011 campaign portrait

Layton also championed social justice. 鈥淧eople who were vulnerable, families in need, women and newly arrived immigrants 鈥� all these critical groups needed help and assistance to get on with their lives. Jack was a real believer in deep affirmative action to correct historical wrongs. I think this sense of social justice became the beacon in his life that guided all of what he did.听听

鈥淗e had no time for neo-liberalism and its market fantasies, but neither was he particularly ideological,鈥� said Drache. 鈥淗e was a politician chieftain who was results- and evidence-driven with a strong sense of what was right, even if unpopular. He had a moral compass to his political strategizing and never abandoned it in the face of adversity.鈥澨�

Layton reframed this constantly, said Drache. 鈥淛ack was happy to look across the spectrum and mix and match policy ideas. He was always more of a pragmatist than a theorist when a grad student, and very independent knowing his own mind. Looking back it becomes very clear that as a young man he was capable of following his own star. He was less ideological than his contemporaries as a grad student at 91亚色.听He was also clear about what he wanted to do. Jack was always strong and self-confident without being self-centred and egotistical.鈥澨�

Layton put it this way in his 2003 interview with Universe: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 most important is to get out and work on issues affecting people and to become totally engaged in your community. That鈥檚 the best route and the most legitimate route to becoming involved in politics. Some people go the other route and get law degrees, make connections with the rich and powerful. I prefer the [first] route.鈥澨�

A PhD in political science doesn鈥檛 hurt if you鈥檙e going to go into politics, Layton said. 鈥淚 found it gave me a chance to really explore ideas like how to accomplish change in society. It taught me an enormous amount about how to think through public policy and consider issues in a thoughtful way. I couldn鈥檛 overstate the benefits of having that degree.鈥澨�

Right: Jack Layton, optimist

A turning point in Layton鈥檚 career was serving as president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities beginning in 2000, said Drache. 鈥淗e dropped a lot of his left rhetoric as president of the federation and his effectiveness grew. He learned to work with people, to gather and actively build a consensus style of politics. That鈥檚 why he also appealed to Quebecers. He came across as a principled leader, a rarity in today鈥檚 rough and tumble world of parliamentary politics.听听

鈥淗e will be sadly and hugely missed,鈥� Drache said. 鈥淧eople esteemed Jack in a way they esteemed Ed Broadbent, Pierre Trudeau and Tommy Douglas. He won the hearts and minds of Canadians and could have been Canada鈥檚 prime minister. That鈥檚 the tragedy. He was the one person who potentially could have united left and centre Liberals and the NDP. The task will be all the much harder without him. Jack had a special style and people felt a personal connection to Jack. That showed in the unprecedented success of the NDP in the last election.鈥澨�

Laxer said: 鈥淛ack should have been opening that chapter that was the pinnacle of his career.鈥� He had led the NDP to official opposition. 鈥淗is breakthrough in Quebec was historic and has changed the country.

鈥淲hat we have to do now," said Laxer, 鈥渋s take his qualities of optimism and courage and take them to heart.鈥澨�

Layton leaves his wife, MP Olivia Chow. His son, Mike, earned a master鈥檚 degree in environmental studies from 91亚色 in 2006, and has followed his father to Toronto city council. Layton also leaves a daughter and granddaughter.

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Anyone transmitting the results of a poll has to include the name of the sponsor and the company that did the poll, which will help readers determine if the poll is objective.

Readers should also have access to the date when the poll was conducted and the size of the sample that was consulted to test reliability.

Finally, organizations have to disclose the margin of error, one of the most important pieces of information, according to Robert MacDermid, a political science professor at 91亚色.

If a poll says Jack Layton has 20 per cent of Canadians supporting him, but there is a margin of error of +/- 3 per cent, that means the support is actually between 23 and 17 per cent, he explained.

. . .

Polls aren鈥檛 the only way to gauge progress, according to MacDermid, who uses Layton鈥檚 recent rise in Quebec as an example.

鈥淭here are all sorts of evidence that people, especially in Quebec, are considering voting for Jack,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 report these other things; that he is spending all his time there; that 1000 people showed up at a rally; and that other political parties are attacking him.鈥�

And polls aren鈥檛 the only way to determine how you want to vote, MacDermid says. Voters should consider the party platforms and what the leaders say about the issues that matter to the individual voter.

MacDermid was also in the media concerning his research on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's election fundraising drives and the upcoming sale of the City of Toronto's waterfront assets; the :

Mayor Rob Ford鈥檚 administration is preparing to hang a huge for-sale sign on the city鈥檚 waterfront real estate assets and is now in the process of auctioning off the first parcel 鈥� the new Corus Entertainment building, as well as the land it sits on at the foot of Jarvis Street, just south of Queen鈥檚 Quay East.

. . .

An influential Vaughan developer, who donated generously to Mayor Rob Ford's pre- and post-election fundraising drives, controls a long-term lease on the Port Lands' Hearn Generating Station, which has been proposed as a site for an NFL stadium by the mayor's brother Doug.

Developer Mario Cortellucci, together with various relatives and individuals who listed his company's premises on their donor forms, contributed $30,000 to the mayor's campaign, about half of which was raised following the election as part of a multi-candidate effort to eliminate campaign deficits. He also secured a private meeting with Rob Ford, according to scheduling documents released under access to information laws.

The figures, based on election contribution filings, were compiled by 91亚色 political scientist Robert MacDermid [Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies].

"The important point here is that when a councillor or mayor runs a deficit and wins, every person seeking influence crowds into the subsequent fundraising events," [said MacDermid].

While Cortellucci's development companies in the past have pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to right-of-centre municipal and provincial candidates, MacDermid's analysis shows the 2010 race was his first serious foray into Toronto politics. In 2006, Cortellucci and another relative gave just $2,500 to Jane Pitfield's mayoral campaign. In 2010, he donated $4,000 and $2,000 to George Smitherman and Joe Pantalone respectively.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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A 91亚色 political science prof says it's hit or miss. "Populism is an overused term," said . "It means having ordinary people making decisions rather than experts 鈥� it's appealing, but I think it's often a type of smokescreen for a set of policies that's not going to satisfy ordinary people, but elites," he said. "To those of us who are involved in academic life, it's frightening. It implies that information and facts can be ignored if you have a 'common sense' approach to things."

In the case of Ignatieff, voters get the sense they don't know him well, Drummond said. "But do they know Stephen Harper or Jack Layton?" he asked. "They come across as more ordinary folk. There are times when Harper does look stiff, but the sweater and the piano playing probably does help him."

Being an intellectual can be problematic in this election, simply because many people make an assumption that Ignatieff may be aloof and "probably doesn't think of himself as ordinary folks."

"That may be unfair to him, that's why...all these photo opportunities of him doing things he doesn't do very often are supposed to give him a common touch, but it doesn't work well if you look stiff and uncomfortable doing it," Drummond said.

Ignatieff is pulling out all the stops to project a more down-to-earth image, but time is against him. "He's visiting a lot of places where people get to see him up close and personal, but I don't think you can do a lot during a campaign to make that sort of dent," he said. "It's not the type of campaign in the 19th century where people appeared in person a lot 鈥� a lot of it is televised or online pleas."

Drummond's research explores public policy with a specific focus on provincial politics. He is a frequent media commentator during elections.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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