Jack Layton's announcement Monday that he is taking "a temporary leave" from the position of Opposition leader in order to concentrate on fighting a new cancer discovered in recent tests did what the recent federal election could not - unite politicians of all persuasions in wishing him well.
Sadly, Layton looked frail and sounded as bad as his party must feel.
After all, party members will be familiar with his recommendation for interim leader, new Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel, chairwoman of the party's national caucus. But the rest of the country will not.
Turmel has big shoes to fill and a party struggling to catch up to unfamiliar success. The question was always going to be whether the NDP could retain and build on the support it polled in precocious Quebec, from where more than half of its elected strength came three months ago.
That's a challenge that has bedevilled all federal parties at one time or another, but it was a struggle that Layton, specifically, might have overcome, a man to whom everyday Canadians felt they could relate - in either language.
Without him, the NDP loses its public persona, the man who succeeded in bringing gentlemanly manners to the face of socialism.
Still, we would never count Layton out - a fact the Liberals have learned to their cost - and sincerely hope he will be back in September as he promised Monday to continue his push to bring the NDP to power "a few short years from now."
