NDP holds first caucus without Layton
Posted Jul 27, 2011 7:35 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The future of the NDP will likely be one of the main topics as New Democrats hold their first caucus meeting since Jack Layton announced he is taking a leave of absence to deal with a second form of cancer.
The caucus is expected to pick former union leader and rookie MP Nycole Turmel as their interim leader, which won’t be official until Thursday.
Layton won’t be at Wednesday’s meeting in person but may send his team a message by phone or video link.
He plans to be back for the fall session but MP’s need to prepare for all scenarios.
Ian Capstick, a former NDP press secretary, says the party has to fill in the big gap Layton leaves in terms of media publicity and the caucus has to make sure it stays united in this difficult time.
“Caucus members would be much more in touch with one another if anything potentially controversial would be coming up,” said Capstick.
“They would flag that much earlier then they would if they had a leader there to mediate their dispute.”
He says this could be one of the biggest challenges the party has ever faced.
