No Kings! (Unless They're Progressive)
What Mike Layton’s municipal run demonstrates about Canadian Politics
Human beings have spent the better part of history attempting to break free from the yoke of hereditary rule. The majority of revolutions in history have been focused on taking power away from a few royal families. Emperors, dictators, and kings. Progressivism has been at the forefront of this fight.
The irony abounds then, when it comes to former Toronto city councillor Mike Layton. When asked about running for the federal NDP just 17 days ago, Mike Layton said: “My family and my work…remain my focus right now.”
Well, in a sense, today Layton put his money where his mouth was and backed that statement up: he’s looking to spend more time with his stepmother at City Hall come October 26th.
Layton is the son of late federal NDP leader Jack Layton. Jack’s widow, of course, is Toronto mayor Olivia Chow. So, this is a true family affair. Mike Layton has held public office in great part because of who his father was. He stepped aside four years ago, and now he wants to reclaim his job at the family office.
It may be lost on partisan supporters of Layton, but there is a strange hypocrisy at play here with the ideals that underpin modern Canadian progressivism. Nepotism and progressivism ought to be like oil and water. Revolutions happened exactly because power was centralized among a special few born into noble houses without merit.
Today, with fears about Trump undermining democracy in the United States, the “No Kings” protest has emerged as the buzzword and gold standard for progressive protest movements. Like anything American, this has overflowed across the border and has popped up in Canada with tremendous support from leftists.
The irony of “No Kings” (in case no one has paid with cash lately) is that Canada has an actual hereditary king. His name is Charles. He is on our new coins, and his mother Elizabeth is still on the $20 bill. New citizens swear an oath to him. Yes, in 2026. But that nepotism is at least ceremonial.
More practically speaking, the hereditary rule of fathers, mothers, and sons abounds within Canada, an extremely progressive place. All this despite it being antithetical to the very ideals that progressivism seems to espouse. It is extremely hard to square the circle that is diversity, equity, and inclusion when one matrimonial home and their progeny get to rule Toronto.
You can hardly support equality of opportunity or equality of outcome while also voting for someone because of who their dad was. This is a core contradiction that hits at the heart of the most basic tenets that drive the NDP and the left wing writ large.
This paradox extends far beyond the 416. Just this past spring, the NDP nominated Avi Lewis as their federal leader. Lewis, of course, is the son of Stephen Lewis, former leader of the provincial NDP. He is also the grandson of David Lewis, former leader of the federal NDP in the 1970s.
If the NDP is looking for the best person for the job, it is technically possible that Lewis, Layton, and Chow are the most fit. But what are the chances really that the prominent sons of prominent politicians are constantly being tapped for leadership?
This at some point needs to be acknowledged as rank favouritism and nepotism. Despite all the hullabaloo about the NDP convention’s equity cards and diversity statements, they still managed to pick a rich white guy who comes from a political dynasty and attended one of the most expensive private schools in the country as their avatar. The dissonance is difficult to comprehend.
In their defence, the NDP does not have a monopoly on the matter of nepotism. Of course, the most prominent example in recent years is that of recent Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Trudeau was a schoolteacher who just so happened to be the son of the most famous Canadian prime minister in living memory. The last Liberal prime minister before Trudeau was Paul Martin — who was himself the son of a federal cabinet minister (Paul Martin Senior). The result: in a country of 40 million people, Canadians are frequently governed and/or represented by the exact same power families. While there are valid criticisms that may be lobbed at Mark Carney, nepotism is not one.
While the trend is particularly noteworthy on the left, the Conservatives in Ontario do have their own dynasty — the Fords. Doug Sr. was an MPP, Doug Ford is, of course, the current premier, and his brother Rob was the mayor of Toronto.
They are all “conservatives,” yes, in theory — but remember that in Ontario they aren’t simply that — they are “Progressive Conservatives.”
While most egregious on the left, nepotism might be the one matter that Canadians seem to agree on. To be clear, Canadians say they don’t want nepotism, but they will vote for it. The more progressive they are, the more comfortable they are with hereditary rule.
The “Divine right of Kings: Ford, Layton, & Trudeau.”
Organizations like the NDP and Progress Toronto will tell you that “diversity is our strength” and then turn around and endorse Mike Layton.
Layton is the focus of this article, but he is just another in a long series of people who have no problem telling other people to “earn it” while conveniently ignoring the fact they’ve caught a special updraft. The result of this kind of nepotism is not victimless. Many would-be leaders are cut back in service of these pseudo-royal families. Layton’s decision is locking out several other hard-working Canadians from realistically participating in municipal politics. This time around, the political casualties will be many Toronto progressives. People who believed they could dare challenge the king for his throne.
Layton is running in University-Rosedale, Ward 11 in downtown Toronto. He is challenging incumbent Diane Saxe and eliminating young progressives including Diana Yoon and Gabe Blanc.
Yoon has a grassroots campaign, buoyed by years of service raising money for local housing. Yet progressive nepotism is ostensibly blocking her path, all for the sin of not being born into a political dynasty. The Toronto Sun reported that Layton asked her to step aside after Yoon had been campaigning for months — she registered officially to run on May 20th.
Gabe Blanc for his part has a strong air game — but his candidacy is essentially being told by the establishment progressives to go sit at the kids’ table. Progressive royalty like Layton needs to be accommodated. If gatekeeping young progressives from holding elected office is the price, then so be it.
Other progressive candidates include cycling advocate Keenan Courtis, community health advocate Dana Fisher, arts leader Terri Hawkes, and artist Alice Li. Each of them is worse off due to the Layton candidacy. On the one hand, that’s politics. On the other hand, it’s a cruel reality check for many who believed affecting change was simply an equation of effort and ideas.
On that matter we must acknowledge the role that the mayor plays here. We can reasonably infer that Olivia Chow endorses all of this — she would need to provide her blessing to her stepson before Layton jumped in. The NDP, CUPE, Progress Toronto, and all their supporters will have no choice but to fall in line with an endorsement.
With Yoon, Blanc, and co ostensibly dispatched, Layton is still not quite a shoo-in to win. To restore the Chow-Layton city hall paradigm, he is still going to have to face off against incumbent progressive Diane Saxe.
Saxe has now been put into an extremely tough position vis-à-vis her relationship with the mayor. She is a downtown progressive and has by all accounts been supportive of all Chow endeavours. Now her boss’s stepson has shown up to the family office and is threatening to take her job. This could have some wacky political implications, as Saxe may be forced to seek new allies and buddy up to mayoral challenger Brad Bradford. If Saxe is spurned enough to retaliate, Bradford would do well to accept the political refugee.
Bradford, funnily enough, is also the son of an MP. The key difference, though — and it is enough to exempt him from this trend — is that Brad Bradford was actually in politics before his mother was. After serving on council, he encouraged his mother, Valerie Bradford, to serve in public office. Eventually she became a Liberal MP for Kitchener-South Hespeler.
With regard to Toronto, the fallout from the Layton decision could provide real political risk for Olivia Chow. Supporters will brush off the friction in the name of the coalition, but Yoon, Blanc, and Saxe supporters have to be pretty unhappy with this development. They would be within their rights to ask: why is the mayor okay with her stepson entering the race at the eleventh hour and spoiling all the work these progressive campaigns have done over three months and more.
Ultimately, Canadians, but especially progressives, will have to reckon with a pretty basic question. Can progressives be progressive if they are constantly nominating the same few (usually white and male) political families? Can a progressive Canada be a democratic and equitable place while the sons and wives of politicians keep ascending to public office at the expense of grassroots candidates?
If Lewis, Chow, Trudeau, Ford, and now Layton are any indication, that reckoning does not seem to be coming any time soon.
In other words, until something changes, we can understand that when progressives say “No Kings” they really mean “No Kings... unless it’s my King.”