He was the maternal great-grandnephew of William Steeves, a Father of Confederation, and his grandfather, Gilbert Layton, had served as a minister without portfolio to the government of Quebec's Union Nationale under Premier Maurice Duplessis.

[4] That same year, Layton graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with honours in political science and economics,[8][3] and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

[9] During his time spent at McGill, Layton's view on politics had been greatly influenced by professor,[10] philosopher and mentor Charles Taylor,[11] so much so that he decided to switch his major from science to arts.

[12] In 1970, Layton joined the New Democratic Party,[15] and would later cite his influence being from Tommy Douglas voicing opposition to the imposition of the War Measures Act during the 1970 October Crisis.

[16] While at York and Ryerson, Layton developed close ties with a number of Toronto political figures including John Sewell and David Crombie.

Layton and Chow were also the subject of some dispute when a June 14, 1990, Toronto Star article by Tom Kerr accused them of unfairly living in a housing cooperative subsidized by the federal government, despite their high income.

[41] Originally known for coming to council meetings in blue jeans with unkempt hair, Layton worked to change his image to run for mayor in the 1991 civic election.

[45] Layton was also hurt by the growing unpopularity of the provincial NDP government of Bob Rae,[46] and by his earlier opposition to Toronto's Olympic bid.

[57][58] Much of his rhetoric involved attacking the policies of then Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin as conservative, and arguing the ideology of the Liberal Party of Canada had shifted in a more right wing direction.

By the end of 2003, the party was polling higher than both the Canadian Alliance or the Progressive Conservatives[61] and it was even suggested that the next election could see the NDP in place as Official Opposition.

[62] During the 2004 Canadian federal election, controversy erupted over Layton's accusation that Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin was responsible for the deaths of homeless people because he failed to provide funding for affordable housing.

[citation needed] As early as his leadership campaign,[69] Layton advocated for electoral reform,[70] calling for a referendum to replace the first-past-the-post system with proportional representation.

Olivia Chow and several other prominent Toronto NDP candidates lost tight races and Layton won his own seat against incumbent Liberal Dennis Mills by a much narrower margin than early polls indicated.

[75] On September 9, 2004, the three signed a letter addressed to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, stating, We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation.

[75]On the same day the letter was written, the three party leaders held a joint press conference at which they expressed their intent to co-operate on changing parliamentary rules, and to request that the governor general consult with them before deciding to call an election.

Early in the campaign, NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis had asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to launch a criminal investigation into the leaking of the income trust announcement.

Layton's campaign direction also caused a break between him and Canadian Auto Workers union head Buzz Hargrove over the issue of strategic voting.

During the final week of the campaign, knowing that last-minute strategic voting had cost the NDP seats in several close ridings during the 2004 election,[80] Hargrove and Martin urged all progressive voters to unite behind the Liberal banner to stop a Conservative government.

[87] Layton threatened to move a motion of non-confidence against the government over the "Clean Air Act" unless action was taken to improve the bill and its approach to environmental policy.

[88] Prime Minister Harper agreed to put an end to the Parliamentary logjam by sending the bill to a special legislative committee before second reading.

Layton said that he has also written to Obama and Hillary Clinton saying that the North American Free Trade Agreement had hurt working people in both countries "and those stories have to be told."

[100] In a separate interview he said that increasing corporate control "is very, very dangerous and we have put the whole issue of net neutrality right into the heart of our campaign platform", and that the Internet is "a public tool for exchanging ideas and I particularly want to say that if we don't fight to preserve it, we could lose it."

Layton remained committed to ousting the Harper government,[105][106][irrelevant citation] pledging that the NDP would vote against the Conservative budget regardless of what it contained.

[108] On January 28, 2009, the Liberals agreed to support the Conservative budget with an amendment, ending the possibility of the coalition, so Layton said "Today we have learned that you can't trust Mr. Ignatieff to oppose Mr. Harper.

"[109] In March 2009, the NDP, under Layton's leadership, re-introduced a motion (first passed June 3, 2008) which, if implemented, would allow conscientious objectors to the Iraq War to remain in Canada.

[129][130][131] The Globe and Mail described Layton's attack as a "knock-out punch" while the Toronto Star stated it was the "pivot in the debate [that] was a turning point in the federal campaign".

[167] However, he also sometimes attended services at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, whose pastor, Brent Hawkes, was a longtime NDP activist and a personal friend of Layton's.

[167] In 1969, at age 19, Layton married his high school sweetheart Sally Halford, with whom he had two children: Mike, who served as a Toronto city councillor from 2010 to 2022, and Sarah, who works for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason remembered during the three-day board meetings when Layton was running for 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 1960s.

After Parliament rose for the summer, Layton announced on July 25, 2011, that he would be taking a temporary leave from his post to fight an unspecified, newly diagnosed cancer.