Jack Layton - Family and Personal Life

Family and Personal Life

Layton's great-granduncle, William Steeves, was a Father of Confederation. His great-grandfather Philip E. Layton was a blind activist who founded the Montreal Association for the Blind in 1908 and led a campaign for disability pensions in the 1930s. Philip was the senior partner in the family business, Layton Bros. Pianos. Layton Pianos had been made in London, England since 1837, and Philip had emigrated to Montreal at the age of 19. Philip was a blind organist, composer ("Dominion March", played on carillon at Jack's lying-in-state), piano tuner, and piano retailer. The family business survives as Layton Audio in Montreal.

Jack Layton's grandfather, Gilbert Layton, was a cabinet minister in the Union Nationale government of Maurice Duplessis in Quebec, and resigned due to the provincial government's lack of support for Canadian participation in World War II. His father, Robert Layton, was a Liberal Party activist in the 1960s and 1970s, and served as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet minister in the 1980s under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Layton was raised as a member of the United Church of Canada, and was a member of the Bloor Street United Church parish in Toronto. However, he also sometimes attended services at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, whose pastor, Brent Hawkes, was a longtime New Democratic Party activist and a personal friend of Layton's.

In 1969, at age 19, Jack married his high school sweetheart Sally Halford, with whom he had two children, Mike, currently a Toronto City Councillor, and Sarah, currently a senior staffer for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Layton and Halford's marriage ended in divorce 1983 after 14 years.

Layton first met Olivia Chow in 1985, during an auction at Village by the Grange, in which Jack was the auctioneer and Olivia was the interpreter for the Cantonese language observers. They had been previously acquainted, however, they realized that they were both candidates in the upcoming election and decided to have lunch together to talk about the campaign. Three weeks after the auction, they went on their first date. Chow went on a pre-arranged canoeing trip, with three other men, and spent a weekend at a cottage then moved in together. Olivia's mother did not approve of Jack, at first, because of his race as well as him not being a lawyer or doctor. Jack was invited to dinner at the home of Olivia's mother, where they also played mahjong. After the dinner, Jack attempted to thank Olivia's mother, in Cantonese, however, Jack's incorrect tone had him inadvertently saying, "Thank you for the good sex." Layton stated "My faux pas broke the ice completely. We've been good buddies ever since."

Layton was known for playing music and singing songs at party gatherings. Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason remembered during the three-day board meetings when Layton was running for the president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities: “He would gather people together in his hotel room and play the guitar and get everybody singing old folk songs from the ’60s. He just got people involved, just with his personality, not politics.”

At the 2005 Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner (typically a satirical event), Layton sent up himself and his party, playing guitar and singing three songs; "Party for Sale or Rent" (to the tune of "King of the Road"), a re-worked version of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" with different humorous lyrics, and "If I Had Another $4.6 Billion".

Layton was a keen Trekkie, having a custom Starfleet uniform made by a tailor. Layton was famously photographed wearing his uniform at a Star Trek convention in 1991.