PARLIAMENT HILL—Political undercurrents surfaced Monday as a deluge of tributes poured in for Jack Layton after the NDP leader succumbed to his latest battle with cancer early Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends at the home he shares with his wife, fellow MP Olivia Chow, in downtown Toronto.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.), while making a brief verbal tribute to Mr. Layton, declined to take any questions about the late NDP leader and abruptly left a brief media appearance after also offering condolences to the families of those killed in an Arctic airline crash last Saturday and praising Canadian troops who took part in Libyan air strikes.

Eyebrows rose at Mr. Harper’s curt treatment of the death of his strongest former political foe in the Commons—although he added a touching regret that he had been unable to join his fellow musician in a guitar-and-piano jam session.

But the NDP added its own political note to the sombre day by releasing a death-bed letter from Mr. Layton, 61, that contained a manifesto for future electoral success, including trademark appeals to Quebec voters, young voters and “all Canadians” to support his party when the next time arrives to cast ballots.

As tributes poured out across the country on Twitter, websites and day-long coverage by CBC Newsworld, which included lengthy quotations from Mr. Layton’s letter, dated only two days before he died at his Toronto home with Ms. Chow (Trinity-Spadina, Ont.) and other family and friends surrounding him, NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, Man.) compared Mr. Layton and his death to the 1960s civil rights icon, Martin Luther King.

“There’s a parallel here, and you’re reluctant to make it almost, but Martin Luther King, the speech he made just before he was assassinated, the one ‘I’ve been to the mountain top and I’ve seen the promised land, and I may not get there with you, but I know we can get there,” Mr. Martin told The Hill Times.

“That’s what occurred to me with Jack, he brought us to the mountain top, he showed us the way, he’s built the path to get us there, and the fact that he won’t get there, he’ll be the best prime minister Canada never had,” he said.

NDP MP Joe Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont.), as well as other New Democrats, and members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, took note of Mr. Harper’s quick exit after his remarks in front of the open doors to the Commons chamber, the Speaker’s chair in the distance behind him, without responding to a question about Mr. Layton from Toronto Star reporter Tonda McCharles.

Mr. Comartin also acknowledged that “Jack being Jack,” the manifesto for further NDP gains in the next federal election should not be surprising.

“I suppose you never expect that to completely go away,” he told The Hill Times. “As individual caucus members we’re MPs and we’re just trying to get through the next few days to the funeral. It’s not just a political leader we’ve lost, he’s a friend and a colleague, and for a lot of our caucus obviously a mentor as well.

“On the other hand, Jack was Jack in his letter, there were some direct political statements in there about the kind of Canada he wanted.”

On Mr. Harper’s approach, Mr. Comartin said he thought Mr. Harper would be “non-partisan” and answer the question. “Even if he equivocated on his response,” he said. “Jack was obviously a major challenge for him, he wasn’t like other leaders. Jack was going to be a much more effective opposition and he’s still that way in death.”

The appeals for voter support in the letter the NDP released posthumously on Monday included a call for continued support from voters in Quebec, where Layton masterminded the party’s historic breakthrough capturing 59 of the province’s 75 Commons seats, which propelled the NDP into the wider breakthrough of forming the Official Opposition for the first time in its 50-year history.

“Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstances in which I cannot continue,” Mr. Layton wrote in his letter that the party titled Jack Layton’s Letter To Canadians, which the party released an hour before Mr. Harper’s appearance.

To Quebec voters, Mr. Layton said of their choices in the May election: “You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election.”

To young voters, he wrote: “More and more, you’re engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed trust in our party.”

To Canadians more broadly, Mr. Layton wrote that they “finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters ... in the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing, consider the alternatives.”

One of the party’s two deputy leaders in the Commons, Libby Davies (Vancouver Centre, B.C.) declined to comment on Mr. Harper’s approach, though it had reached her through the party grapevine.

“Somebody told me that it was a kind of formal thing, but I don’t want to comment on it at all. Stephen Harper, people will make their own decisions about what they see, and what they think it means or how someone comes across,” she said. “I don’t even know if that’s for me to do at this point, people will come to their own conclusions.”

On the immediate future the party faces, with Parliament set to resume Sept. 19, Ms. Davies and other NDP MPs said they are united despite the controversy that just won’t go away over Mr. Layton’s selection of rookie MP Nycole Turmel (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) as interim leader until the party elects a permanent successor, which Mr. Layton suggested in his letter should be “as early as possible in the New Year.”

“We’ll stick together, we’ll stick together like family in a difficult time,” said Ms. Davies.

“There is a great sense of solidarity and support in our caucus. It really is like a family. We do support Nycole Turmel. We know there will be challenges, but I think when you talk about a legacy, the legacy is continuing his work,” she added.

Northern Ontario MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.), who received news of Mr. Layton’s death by cell phone as the aircraft he was aboard was taxiing on a runway for a flight to Quebec City, was also confident the party will hold together, without erupting with the kind of internal division that racked the Liberal Party over the past seven years.

“Our caucus is really strong, people are really committed to the vision and committed to carrying on Jack’s work. We didn’t come this far to blow it,” he told The Hill Times.

“We have a lot of grieving to do. People are calling each other, but we are carrying on. We have talked about next steps, just under that assumption that Jack would be coming later in the fall. What we need to do, I think, we’re feeling obviously devastated about Jack, but we have a lot of trust in each other.”

Pollster Nik Nanos said trust and unity will be vital for the NDP in the next few months.

“People will be wondering what does this mean for the NDP, especially for any Canadian that voted for the NDP,” he said in an interview. “They’re just going to be thinking about what does this mean to the NDP and its future, and they will be paying close attention to what happens in the coming months.”

Mr. Nanos said the leadership race will be interesting. “ Is it going to be someone that looks like a future prime minister? Is it going to be someone that will hold on to the gains in Quebec? Is it a new face to reinvigorate the social democratic movement in Canada?” he said. “It’s going to be interesting to see the direction they want to take.”

A funeral will be held on Saturday in Toronto, and a book of condolences will be set up on Parliament Hill. In lieu of flowers, Mr. Layton's family has asked Canadians to donate to the Broadbent Institute 'to continue the work of making Canada a better place.'

tnaumetz@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times