Canada's Layton lies in state in Ottawa

OTTAWA, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The body of Canada's socialist party leader Jack Layton arrived in Ottawa Wednesday to lie in state in Parliament before his state funeral in Toronto Saturday.

Layton, 61, died Monday in his Toronto home of cancer.

His closed casket was to be viewed privately by family and dignitaries before public viewing begins for two days. The early viewing was to be attended by Governor General David Johnston and members of Layton's New Democratic Party, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Layton's body was to be returned to Toronto Friday for two days of visitation at City Hall, where he began his leftist political career in the 1970s. He later entered federal politics and in the May 2 federal election led his party to the unprecedented role of Official Opposition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

As such, Harper offered Layton's wife Olivia Chow, also an NDP member of Parliament, a state funeral, which she accepted.

That will take place Saturday afternoon at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, which seats 2,630 people, the Globe and Mail reported. Officials were working at accommodating overflow crowds at the hall in the city's center.

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have attended public memorials for Layton. His life and career have dominated Canadian media since his death.