Elected as leader of the NDP in 2003, Toronto MP Jack Layton led the party to its best ever result in the 2011 election. Huge gains in Quebec, spurred by Layton's popularity, saw the party taking 103 seats and becoming official opposition. Layton died on Monday August 22, 2011 from cancer. In July 2011, he announced that he would be stepping down as leader to fight a second cancer. Rookie Quebec MP Nycole Turmel was his choice for interim leader. In recent years, Layton has been plagued by health problems. He revealed in February 2010 that he was fighting prostate cancer. This was compounded by a hip surgery that saw him using a cane for most of the 2011 election campaign. Prior to his role in the NDP, Layton was a city councillor in Toronto and a professor at Ryerson University.