Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Greatest Canadian?

Tommy Douglas (1904-1986)
     was voted "The Greatest Canadian" of all time
          in a nationally televised contest
               organized by
                    the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 
                         in 2004.

A Scottish-born Baptist minister,
     he was a democratic socialist politician
          highly respected for his principled stands,
               his wit and skill as an orator.

He never served as Canada’s prime minister,
     but his ideas strongly influenced federal legislation
          in the 1960s and 70s.

Tommy Douglas served
     as premier of Saskatchewan from 1944-1961,
          leading the first democratic socialist government
               in North America.

During those years,
     Saskatchewan became the first province in Canada
          to offer free hospital care to all citizens,
               followed by universal health care in 1962.

His government also passed the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights,
     legislation that broke new ground
          in protecting fundamental freedoms and equality rights.
               (This bill preceded the United Nations’
                    Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
                         by 18 months).

Douglas headed Canada’s New Democratic Party
     from 1961-1971,
          a “third party” which has never formed a majority
               in Canada’s House of Commons.
But the 1960s saw three minority governments
     led for Progressive Conservatives and Liberals.

In this setting
     (where collaboration with “third parties”
          was required to govern),
               the NDP had considerable influence on legislation,
                    from energy to industry to health care.

Tommy Douglas was the grandfather of actor Kiefer Sutherland. 

Read more about Tommy Douglas here.

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