A BoB short:
The Toronto Island Ferry Terminal is set to be renamed in honour of the late NDP leader, Jack Layton. Also a long-time Toronto city councillor, Layton died of cancer last year. The motion was put forward by Mayor Rob Ford, who said that naming the terminal after the widely-admired politician was a fitting tribute.
“Not only did he represent waterfront communities during his career as an elected representative,” Ford noted in a press release, “but he was also a great supporter of the Island Public School and helped save Island residents’ homes.”
Layton also had emotional attachments to the island. His son, Michael Layton, who became a Toronto city councilor in 2011, remembered that, “Some of my fondest childhood memories are taking the ferry to the island and spending time with my family.”
In 1988, Layton married his second wife Olivia Chow in a ceremony on one of the islands and it was also one of the places where he requested that his ashes be spread.
Ford said that he would ask city council to waive the normal two-year waiting period for approval.
– Emily Olesen
