Canada sets state funeral for Jack Layton

OTTAWA, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The Canadian government will conduct an unprecedented state funeral for the leader of the socialist opposition party who died of cancer in Toronto.

Jack Layton, 61, battled prostate cancer last year, but announced last month a second, undisclosed cancer had been diagnosed. He died Monday.

Since Canada was formed in 1867, no leader of the opposition has died while in office.

Also for the first time in its history, Layton's New Democratic Party moved from third place into second in the May 2 election, forming the Official Opposition.

Hours after Layton's death was announced, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's communications director, Dimitri Soudas, said Layton's wife Olivia Chow, also an NDP member of Parliament, had been consulted about a state funeral.

"Prime Minister Harper has exercised his discretion and has offered Mrs. Chow a state funeral for Jack Layton. She has accepted," Soudas said.

Normally, formal state funerals are reserved for current or former governors general, prime ministers or Cabinet ministers.

Layton's body will lie in state in Parliament in Ottawa through the week before the funeral at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto Saturday afternoon, the government said.

Monday, tens of thousands of people across Canada set up vigils with candles and flowers and signed books of condolences at public and political offices for Layton and his family.

Political allies and foes alike issued statements praising Layton's lifelong commitment to Canada and its people.