But I want to remind you: that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can't lock up an idea. Douglas’s health plan was copied by other provinces and spread to all of Canada. The pressure applied by the NDP during his leadership proved to be an integral part in the adoption of a nationwide pension plan as well as universal health care. They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but ate like a cat. Douglas lived a quiet life, taking pride in his wife and two daughters. They tried electing a combination of black and white cats, even black cats with white spots and white cats with black spots but to no avail. As leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1942 and the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961, he led the first socialist government in North America and … Archived. There's a fellow who owns this cream separator. Following votes in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, Sanders has emerged as the frontrunner for the presidential nomination of his party. Tommy Douglas became a champion for universal health care after almost losing his leg to injury. They are pouring in the milk. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. By 1962, still under Douglas' leadership, Saskatchewan enacted the first medicare plan (universal publicly funded medical insurance) in North America.

In some cases I knew people who simply died. No matter which cats were elected the result was always the same – a government by the cats for the benefit of the cats. The basement at Calvary Baptist became “the distributing centre for the unemployed.”. Why then, have they done nothing but make empty promises and leave their ranks defenseless? For those of you not already familiar with the name you have probably come across it when hearing about the “Greatest Canadian” contest being put on by the CBC.

Tommy Douglas became a champion for universal health care after almost losing his leg to injury. In 1986 he died of cancer at the age of 82. They tried everything.

Capitalism depends not just on profit, but on ever-increasing profit. But he would forever be known as the father of socialized medicine in Canada. Here are the primary producers, the farmers and the fishermen and the loggers. And two of my friends... And was vocal against the war measure act (suspension of habeas corpus and imprisonment without trial indefinitely).

Amongst the likes of Terry Fox, David Suzuki and Alexander Graham Bell is Tommy Douglas. Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. Here’s the thing about democratic socialism. In 1959, he announced that Saskatchewan would go it alone. He knew, especially in his early days that the ruling elite does not and cannot accommodate any interest contrary to their own unless forced to do so. “They're just another pro-capitalist party,” Harter said. And then he sits for a while, indigestion gets better, burps a couple of times, says, " Alright, boys, start the machine.

To me, the answer to those questions, in the wealthiest nation on earth, is no, you are not free,” Sanders said in his speech. Tommy would resign in 1971 due to old age and in-party fighting. Every major newspaper in Saskatchewan warned against the “communist” CCF destroying the province and mortgage companies even phoned debt-stricken farmers, threatening to foreclose their farm if the CCF won. Mortgage companies openly campaigned against the CCF when Douglas promised to immediately enact a law protecting farmers from foreclosures. One of Douglass first acts as Premier was to bring in free medical and hospital care for pensioners, those on government support and for cancer patients. https://youtu.be/darxphvk058 this video will never not be relevant. The Baptist denomination operated Brandon College, but the college was regarded by many as an outpost of modernist thought and teachings, and tensions ran high between many congregations in the Baptist Union in Western Canada. He says to the worker, "You're laid off, you can go on unemployment insurance. In a speech at the George Washington University in June 2019, Sanders defined his vision of democratic socialism. They were nice fellows. Joe Busch remembered the impact Douglas had on his father, a struggling farmer: "We were in debt pretty bad from the 30s. (I know conservatives are liberals too, as both subscribe to a right wing ideology, that being liberalism, it's just easier to write it that way), In vice the press head iof the sanders campaing said it in like two sentences. Ottawa civil servants had already produced a blueprint for the post-war era - comprehensive social security for Canadians from infancy to old age, including a national health insurance, universal old age pensions and maternity allowances. Douglas’ political contributions should not in any way be seen just as a historical novelty. Now what the, what the democratic socialist party has been saying to Canadians for a long time is that the time has come in this land of ours for the worker and the primary producer to get their hands on the regulator of the machine so that it begins to produce homogenized milk in which everybody'll get a little cream. It is not with the primary producer.

He went to a meeting in 1943. User account menu.

Tommy Douglas, Scottish-born Canadian politician. And then I thought, but there's another fellow here somewhere. Used to walk to the polls and cast their ballots. Although he shifted from the Christian language of the Social Gospel, he maintained an evangelistic tone, with frequent appeals to brotherhood and a sense of “a higher destiny” for humanity. The large department store chain, Simpsons, offered its catalogue mailing system for the distribution of anti-CCF propaganda. What I fear is that we will begin to have defection from our own ranks in the House to the CCF.". In Ottawa, Prime Minister Mackenzie King had already felt the political tide turning left. They gave me the job of turning the handle of the cream separator. | contact us In the spring of 1944, the provinces ruling Liberals called an election.

"Land agents for mortgage and trust companies were contacting debt-ridden farmers and telling them that if a CCF government were elected, before we could pass any legislation, they would foreclose on several farmers mortgages," remembered Douglas. It was Douglas’ greatest achievement as a public servant. I'm sure most people in this sub understand that. They were unhitching the horses. "In my heart I am not sorry to see the mass of the people coming a little more into their own, but I do regret that it is not a Liberal party that is winning that position. Weyburn was an agricultural town, and Saskatchewan was entering a prolonged drought and economic depression. Have modern liberals 'canceled' him for his statements on homosexuality? Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds--so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort. A cat that tried to make the sound of a mouse, nonetheless will still always eat like a cat. Nevertheless, on June 15, 1944 Douglas handedly became the first CCF Premier of Saskatchewan and the leader of the first socialist government in Canada.

The white cats campaigned on promises to make Mouseland better for all mice but instead, once in power they made all the round mouse holes square so that a cat could fit both paws in. Through brilliant internal reforms, he pulled factions into a campaign team and swept to power with 47 of 53 seats in June, 1944. Here, he would be transformed into a social activist, a member of parliament, and a provincial premier. Tommy Douglas's government in Saskatchewan was North America's first socialist government and pioneered medicare in Canada. The CCF’s image as a party of extremists limited its success federally. When a national party was formed in 1961 to succeed the CCF, Douglas agreed to become its first leader. The political left in Canada has drawn an astonishing number of leaders from the ranks of clergy. The first leader of a socialist (CCF) government in Canada was the former Baptist minister, Tommy Douglas, in Saskatchewan, and the first leader of the federal CCF party was the former Methodist minister James Shaver Woodsworth. He rejected fundamentalism as “fairy stories” and regarded Christ as the greatest of moral teachers – one who recognized that “the great motivating force in society is love for your fellow man.”, “He embodied the social democratic movement.”, In 1930, Douglas became the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. When he retired from Parliament in 1979, he embodied the social democratic movement; his speech to a dispirited NDP convention in 1983 is regarded as a moment of renewal for the party. The first socialist government in North America was elected. Politics was always the main course during dinner in the Douglas house and it wasn’t long until Tommy was elected into the House of Commons as a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in 1935 at the age of 31. Douglas knew this and called on people to demand and fight for things such as public health care, public education, labour rights and a minimum wage. While premier, Douglas continued his church membership and Sunday school teaching. Tommy’s father was a religious freethinker; his mother, along with Tommy and his younger sister, attended the evangelical Beulah Baptist Church in Winnipeg. I got to be quite good at it. In a speech at the George Washington University in June 2019, Sanders defined his vision of democratic socialism. Thomas Clement Douglas was born in Falkirk, Scotland. The CCF is the forerunner of the NDP, but Harter noted that the New Democratic Party is no longer a socialist party.

copyright � 2001 CBC. log in sign up. By 1942 Tommy Douglas became the leader of the Saskatchewan provincial CCF party although he remained a MP for the Weyburn constituency. Nothing can hide this and organizations like the NDP cannot ignore their responsibilities in leading that struggle.

| tv episode summaries Thomas Clement Douglas PC MP CC SOM MA LL.D) from 1942 and the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961, he led the first socialist government in North America.