Spotted at City Hall today: A Layton.
No, not Jack -- his 31-year-old environmentalist son, Michael, who visited the monthly council meeting to drum up support for a possible run in Joe Pantalone's old fiefdom.
Layton the younger is weighing a bid in Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina, one of the few municipal ridings without an incumbent in the 2010 race. (Mr. Pantalone has said he won't parachute back into the council race if his mayoralty bid falters.)
Michael, the deputy outreach director for Environmental Defence, has lived in the ward west of downtown most of his life. He's been busy meeting with local groups since Mr. Pantalone announced he's running to replace David Miller.
Michael expects to make his final decision in the next couple of weeks.
"Is my best impact in council? I love what I do now," he said. On the other hand, he's eager to extend and enhance Mr. Pantalone's 30-year legacy in Trinity-Spadina.
"Under his watch we saw a turbine go up at Ex place. That's fundamentally a shift in the way people will view the city ... and I've heard recently, I think they inked a deal to get one of the biggest solar installations on the roof at the Ex. That's the type of project I want to be a part of," he said.
Since Adam Giambrone - a progressive who enjoyed plenty of support from Miller backers, NDP organizers and trade unionists - pulled out of the race over a sex scandal, Jack Latyon's name has been floated as a potential lefty substitute.
Not going to happen, says his son.
"They've got a great gig. They love what they do in Ottawa," Michael said of his father and his wife, MP Olivia Chow. "I don't think it's high on their priority list to come back to city hall in that capacity."
"Whether or not he'll endorse me might be a question for another day if I do chose to run," he joked.