The reviews are in

Don Martin on yesterday's tributes to Jack Layton - and the reasons why Layton should be receiving accolades more often:

(Y)esterday was, until the love turned to the more traditional loathing, a rare Jack Layton Day on Parliament Hill.

Ovation after all-party ovation erupted as tributes were read to a leader who has yet to slow down despite radiation therapy, although some days his pallor looks decidedly grey.

Even crusty partisan Conservative MP Jim Abbott stood to declare Mr. Layton “has my admiration for raising the level of awareness about this disease. His public gesture of courage showed Canadian men and their families that they are not alone in their daily fight to combat this illness, but more needs to be done.”

Good for the MPs. Now, let me continue with some more Jack Layton back-patting by noting, cancer or not, he’s been by far the best leader at advocating Big Ideas.

The New Democrats have been at the forefront of almost every major issue, be it cancelling a corporate income tax, demanding pension reform, advocating auto sector bailouts, boosting EI benefits and even writing off the Afghanistan deployment as a lost cause long before it became fashionable.