The final departure

To a 15-gun salute, Jack Layton departed the Hill for the
last time. He will now lie in repose at Toronto City Hall until the funeral at Roy Thomson Hall on Saturday.

Donations to the Broadbent Institute, which Layton’s family requested in lieu of flowers, are flowing through the NDP
coffers instead of going directly to the institute itself. (Caution: possible paywall.) Why? As of yet, the Broadbent Institute doesn’t exist. Until it does,
donations will go through the party and count as contributions to the NDP. This puts individuals on the NDP
donor list but nets a much larger tax receipt than would a

donation to a registered charity.

Here’s something for those who think that Gary Doer
should make a run for the federal NDP leadership. This story recounts his travels in the States to sell the benefits of the oil sands and build support for the Keystone pipeline. It will
probably not endear him to many in the party.

Still on that topic, there have been a
couple of stories naming Brian Topp as a potential leadership candidate, a move that he is neither confirming nor denying.

The deadline has now passed for the
farmers’ plebiscite on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board. Not that it
matters, as the Conservatives have pledged to dismantle it regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Still in the Arctic, Harper has announced $600 million in additional healthcare funding for the North.

And the Canadian government has met with the new Canadian representative for Libya’s National Transitional Council and has put the council’s flag up in the Lester Pearson Building.