Fair enough. But despite any possible repercussions, the play was to make the NDP a much bigger player than it had ever been, and he succeeded; under him, the NDP became the official opposition for the first time in it's history. If Layton were still around, and the NDP perhaps managed to retain the official opposition status, Canadian politics would have been forever changed. Instead we quickly reverted back to the Liberal/Conservative swap game every few election cycles.

I think regardless of the ultimate legacy of Layton, the status quo would have been shaken up. And at this point, any change is better than two entrenched and old political parties essentially power sharing every few years.