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Thomas Clement Douglas PC,CC,SOM (October 20, 1904 - February 24, 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian Baptist minister and democratic socialist politician. As Cooperative Commonwealth Federation premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961, he led the first socialist government in North America and introduced universal public medicare to Canada. When the CCF united with organized labour to form the New Democratic Party, he was elected its first federal leader, serving from 1961 to 1971. He is warmly remembered for his folksy wit and oratory, exemplified by his fable of Mouseland.
In 2004, he was voted The Greatest Canadian in a nationally televised contest.
He is the father of actress Shirley Douglas, and the grandfather of actor Kiefer Sutherland.
Early life and activism
Douglas was born in 1904 in Falkirk, Scotland. In 1910, his family immigrated to Canada, where they located in Winnipeg. During World War I, the family returned to Glasgow but came back to Winnipeg in 1920.
As a preacher, Douglas was influenced by the social gospel movement, which believed in combining Christian principles with social reform. After graduating from Brandon College in 1930, he won a position as minister at the Calvary Baptist Church in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. With the onset of the Depression, Douglas became a social activist in his community (Weyburn), joined the new CCF party, became a freemason, and was elected to the House of Commons in the 1935 federal election.
Premier of Saskatchewan
Douglas was an active Member of Parliament, but he also maintained an interest in provincial politics, and became the leader of the Saskatchewan CCF in 1942. he led the CCF to power in the June 15, 1944 provincial election, taking 47 of 53 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.
Douglas and the Saskatchewan CCF won five straight majority victories. Most of his government's pioneering innovations were concentrated in its first term, including:
- the assembly of the publicly-owned utilities Sask Tel and Sask Power;
- the creation of Canada's first publicly owned automobile insurance service, the Saskatchewan Government Insurance Office;
- legislation that allowed the unionization of the public service; and
- a program to offer free hospital care to all citizens the first in Canada.
Through careful financial management, the Douglas government slowly paid off the huge debt left by the previous Liberal government, and created a budget surplus for the Saskatchewan government. This paved the way for Douglas's greatest achievement, the introduction of universal medicare legislation in 1961. While Douglas is often described as the "father of medicare" in Canada, the Saskatchewan program was finally launched by his successor, Woodrow Lloyd, in 1962. After seeing the success of the Saskatchewan experiment, Prime Minister Lester Pearson and the other provinces agreed to the creation of a national medicare program in 1967.
Federal NDP leader
When the CCF allied with the Canadian Labour Congress to form the New Democratic Party in 1961, Douglas defeated Hazen Argue at the first NDP leadership convention, and became the new party's first leader. Douglas resigned from provincial politics, and sought election to the House of Commons Regina in 1962, but was defeated. He was later elected in a by-election in the riding of Burnaby—Coquitlam, British Columbia.
Re-elected in that riding in the 1963 and 1965 elections, Douglas lost it in the 1968 federal election. He won a seat again in a 1968 by-election Nanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands, British Columbia.
While the NDP did better in elections than its predecessor, the party did not experience the breakthrough it had hoped for. Despite this, Douglas was greatly respected by both party members and Canadians at large. In 1970, Douglas and the NDP took a controversial but principled stand against the implementation of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.
Late career and retirement
Douglas resigned as NDP leader in 1971, but Douglas kept his seat in the House of Commons. He served as the NDP's energy critic under the new leader, David Lewis. He was re-elected in Nanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands in the 1972 and 1974 elections.
He retired from politics in 1979. In 1981, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1985, he was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. In the mid 1980s, Brandon University created a students' union building in honour of Douglas and old friend Stanley Knowles.
He became a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada in 1984.
Douglas died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 81.
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Tommy Douglas
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