Vic Toews

Provencher MP and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says NDP leader Jack Layton will be missed.

Layton died early this morning of cancer. He was 61.

Toews says he and Layton may have been political foes, but he had a lot of respect for him. Toews notes, "Jack and I spent many hours in the gym together. In fact, Jack and his wife Olivia were always up in the M-P's gym. Obviously as he grew sicker he couldn't attend the gym. But, we often spoke about all types of political and other matters affecting Canada when we were up in the gym there." He adds when you are exercising in the gym, it kind of strips away the political differences and you simply have conversations as ordinary people.

He says, Layton's death with leave a large hole in the life of his family as well as in Parliament and Canada as a whole.