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Robert Burns (1759–1796)

A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, sometimes also known as Robert Burns Day or Burns Night (Burns Nicht), although they may in principle be held at any time of the year.

Burns suppers are most common in Scotland and Northern Ireland but occur wherever there are Burns Clubs, Scottish Societies, expatriate Scots, or aficionados of Burns' poetry. There is a particularly strong tradition of them in southern New Zealand's main city Dunedin, of which Burns' nephew Thomas Burns was a founding father.

The first suppers were held in Ayrshire at the end of the 18th century by Robert Burns' friends on the anniversary of his death, 21 July, In Memoriam and they have been a regular occurrence ever since. The first Burns club, known as The Mother Club, was founded in Greenock in 1801 by merchants born in Ayrshire, some of whom had known Burns. They held the first Burns supper on what they thought was his birthday on 29 January 1802, but in 1803 discovered from the Ayr parish records that the correct date was 25 January 1759,^[1] and since then suppers have been held on 25 January, Burns' birthday.

Burns suppers may be formal or informal. Both typically include haggis (a traditional Scottish dish celebrated by Burns in Address to a Haggis), Scotch whisky and the recitation of Burns' poetry. Formal dinners are hosted by organisations such as Burns clubs, the Freemasons or St Andrews Societies and occasionally end with dancing when ladies are present. Formal suppers follow a standard format as follows:

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Order of the supper[link]

Start of the evening[link]

Guests gather and mix as in any informal party.

Host's welcoming speech[link]

The host says a few words welcoming everyone to the supper and perhaps stating the reason for it. The event is declared open.

All of the guests are seated and grace is said, usually using the Selkirk Grace, a well-known thanksgiving said before meals, using the Scots language. Although attributed to Burns, the Selkirk Grace was already known in the 17th century, as the "Galloway Grace" or the "Covenanters' Grace". It came to be called the Selkirk Grace because Burns was said to have delivered it at a dinner given by the Earl of Selkirk.

The Selkirk Grace

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

The supper starts with the soup course. Normally a Scottish soup such as Scotch Broth, Potato Soup or Cock-a-Leekie is served.

Entrance of the haggis[link]

Everyone stands as the main course is brought in. This is always a haggis on a large dish. It is usually brought in by the cook, generally while a piper plays bagpipes and leads the way to the host's table, where the haggis is laid down. He/she might play 'A man's a man for a' that', 'Robbie Burns Medley' or 'The Star O' Robbie Burns'.^[2] The host, or perhaps a guest with a talent, then recites the Address to a Haggis

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race

Addressing the haggis

At the line His knife see rustic Labour dicht the speaker normally draws and cleans a knife, and at the line An' cut you up wi' ready slicht, plunges it into the haggis and cuts it open from end to end. When done properly this "ceremony" is a highlight of the evening.

Supper[link]

Haggis platter at a Burns supper in the U.S.

Haggis served wi' tatties an' neeps

At the end of the poem, a Scotch whisky toast will be proposed to the haggis, then the company will sit down to the meal. The haggis is traditionally served with mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed turnips (neeps). A dessert course, cheese courses, coffee, etc. may also be part of the meal. The courses normally use traditional Scottish recipes. For instance, dessert may be cranachan or Tipsy Laird (whisky trifle) followed by oatcakes and cheese, all washed down with the "water of life" (uisge beatha) – Scotch whisky. When the meal reaches the coffee stage various speeches and toasts are given. In order, the core speeches and toasts are as follows.

Immortal memory[link]

One of the guests gives a short speech, remembering some aspect of Burns' life or poetry. This may be light-hearted or intensely serious. A good speaker always prepares a speech with his audience in mind, since above all the Burns' supper should be entertaining.

Everyone drinks a toast to Robert Burns.

Appreciation[link]

The host will normally say a few words thanking the previous speaker for his speech and may comment on some of the points raised.

Toast to the Lassies[link]

This was originally a short speech given by a male guest in thanks to the women who had prepared the meal. However nowadays it is much more wide ranging, and generally covers the male speaker's view on women. It is normally amusing but not offensive, particularly bearing in mind that it will be followed by a reply from the "lassies" concerned.

The men drink a toast to the women's health.

Reply to the Toast to the Lassies[link]

This is occasionally (and humorously) called the 'Toast to the Laddies', and like the previous toast it is generally quite wide ranging nowadays. A female guest will give her views on men and reply to any specific points raised by the previous speaker. Like the previous speech this should be amusing but not offensive. Quite often the speakers giving this toast and the previous one will collaborate so that the two toasts complement each other.

Other toasts and speeches[link]

These may follow if desired. It is not unusual to toast the locality or nation in which the supper is being held.

Works by Burns[link]

After the speeches there may be singing of songs by Burns -- Ae Fond Kiss, Parcel O' Rogues, A Man's a Man, etc. — and more poetry -- To a Mouse, To a Louse, Tam O' Shanter, The Twa Dugs, Holy Willie's Prayer, etc. This may be done by the individual guests or by invited experts, goes on for as long as the guests wish and may include other works by poets influenced by Burns, particularly poets writing in Scots. Foreign guests can also be invited to sing or say works from their land.

Closing[link]

Finally the host will call on one of the guests to give the vote of thanks, after which everyone is asked to stand, join hands, and sing Auld Lang Syne bringing the evening to an end.

See also[link]

• Scottish cuisine

References[link]

External links[link]

• Burns Night Supper Information at About Aberdeen
• Scottish Poetry Selection - Selkirk Grace
• A 2007 Supper for Mauchline Burns Club, presented with explanations of each stage
• Audio recording of a Burns Supper

Lily Neill is an American-born harp player who specialises in traditional Irish music and related folk music traditions. She is recognised for her solo performances as well as for her collaborations with artists in genres outside the realm of folk music.

Neill was born in Maryland, United States and started playing the harp at the age of nine, after taking several years of piano lessons. She gave her first professional public performance the following year, earning many awards at harp competitions in the USA including the U.S. National Scottish harp competition where she was undefeated. She also earned a prize at the 1998 All-Ireland competition in Ballina, County Mayo. As a teenager she performed for then-President Bill Clinton, Congressman Richard Neal and Senators Ted Kennedy and George Mitchell as well as with The Chieftains and Derek Bell at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington DC, in his final two performances there.

Neill received a first class honours degree from the University of Limerick's Irish World Academy and released her debut CD, Without Words, while still a student. The CD earned her the 2006 New Female Artist of the Year Award from LiveIreland.com and the Irish-American News.

She is currently based in Europe. She recorded with Finnish rock band Carmen Gray on their debut album for Sony BMG and performs in both solo and group line-ups in Europe and the United States. She is also known for her collaboration with tap dancer Cartier Williams. She performed in Brittany at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in both 2007 and 2008.

Albums[link]

• Without Words, 2004
• The Habit of a Foreign Sky, 2011

External links[link]

• Lily Neill official web site
• Lily Neill at the Kennedy Center in Washington

References[link]

• The Irish American News
• LiveIreland.com
• HotPress Review

The Honourable Tommy Douglas PC, CC, SOM, MA, LL.D (hc)
Thomas Clement Douglas in 1945
1st Leader of the New Democratic Party
In office 3 August 1961 – 24 April 1971
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	David Lewis
7th Premier of Saskatchewan
In office 10 July 1944 – 7 November 1961
Preceded by	William John Patterson
Succeeded by	Woodrow Lloyd
Member of the House of Commons of Canada
In office 1935–1944
Preceded by	Edward James Young
Succeeded by	Eric Bowness McKay
Constituency	Weyburn
In office 1962–1968
Preceded by	Erhart Regier
Succeeded by	riding dissolved
Constituency	Burnaby—Coquitlam
In office 1969–1979
Preceded by	Colin Cameron
Succeeded by	riding dissolved
Constituency	Nanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
In office 1944–1961
Preceded by	George Crane
Succeeded by	Junior Staveley
Constituency	Weyburn
Personal details
Born	Thomas Clement Douglas (1904-10-20)20 October 1904 Falkirk, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died	24 February 1986( 1986-02-24) (aged 81) Ottawa, Ontario
Political party	CCF/NDP
Spouse(s)	Irma Dempsey
Profession	Baptist minister
Religion	Christian (Baptist)
Signature

Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, PC CC SOM (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Baptist minister, and Canadian social democratic politician. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party. He left federal politics to become the Saskatchewan CCF's leader and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961. His government was the first social democratic government in North America, and it introduced the continent's first single payer, universal health care program. After setting up Saskatchewan's medicare program, he stepped down as premier and ran to lead the newly formed federal New Democratic Party, the National CCF's successor party. Douglas was elected as its first federal leader in 1961. Although he never led the party to government, through much of his tenure, the party held the balance of power in the House. He was noted as being the main opposition voice to the inposition of the War Measures Act, during the 1970 October Crisis. He stepped down as leader the following year, but remained as a Member of Parliament until 1979. He was awarded many honorary degrees, and a foundation was named for him and his political mentor M.J. Coldwell in 1971. In 1981, he was invested into the Order of Canada; and became a member of Canada's Privy Council in 1984. He died in 1986 after a battle with cancer. In 2004, a CBC Television program named him "The Greatest Canadian," based on a viewer-supported survey.

Early life[link]

Douglas was born in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1904, the son of Annie (née Clement) and Thomas Douglas, an iron moulder who fought in the Boer War.^[1] In 1910, his family emigrated to Canada, where they settled in Winnipeg.^[2] Shortly before he left Scotland, Douglas fell and injured his right knee. Osteomyelitis set in and he underwent a number of operations in Scotland in an attempt to cure the condition. Later however, in Winnipeg, the osteomyelitis flared up again and Douglas was sent to hospital. Doctors there told his parents his leg would have to be amputated. Fortunately, a well-known orthopedic surgeon took an interest in his case and agreed to treat the boy for free if his parents would allow medical students to observe. After several operations, Douglas's leg was saved. This experience convinced him that health care should be free to all. "I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside", Douglas told an interviewer many years later.^[3]

During World War I, the family returned to Glasgow.^[4] They came back to Winnipeg in late 1918, in time for Douglas to witness the Winnipeg General Strike.^[5] From a rooftop vantage point on Main Street, he witnessed the police charging the strikers with clubs and guns, a streetcar being overturned and set on fire. He also witnessed the RCMP shoot and kill one of the workers. This incident influenced Douglas later in life by cementing his commitment to protect fundamental freedoms in a Bill of Rights when he was Premier of Saskatchewan.^[6]

At the age of fifteen, Douglas began an amateur career in boxing at the One Big Union (OBU) gym in Winnipeg.^[7] Weighing 135 pounds, Douglas fought in 1922 for the Lightweight Championship of Manitoba; and after a six round fight won the title.^[7] Douglas sustained a broken nose, a loss of some teeth, and a strained hand and thumb.^[7] Douglas successfully held the title the following year.^[7]

In 1930 Douglas married Irma Dempsey, a music student at Brandon College. They had one daughter, actress Shirley Douglas, and they later adopted a second daughter Joan, who became a nurse. His grandson is the actor Kiefer Sutherland.^[8]

Education[link]

He started elementary school in Winnipeg. He completed his elementary education after returning to Glasgowpart-time jobs. He worked as a soap boy in a barber shop, rubbing lather into tough whiskers, then dropped out of high school at 13 after landing a good-paying job in a cork factory. The owner offered to pay Douglas's way through night school so that he could learn Portuguese and Spanish, languages that would enable him to become a cork buyer. However, the family returned to Winnipeg when the war ended and Douglas entered the printing trades. He served a five-year apprenticeship and worked as a Linotype operator finally acquiring his journeyman's papers, but decided to return to school to pursue his ambition to become an ordained minister.^[9]

Brandon College[link]

In 1924, the 19-year-old Douglas enrolled at Brandon College, a Baptist school affiliated with McMaster University, to finish high school and study theology. During his six years at the College, he was influenced by the Social Gospel movement, which combined Christian principles with social reform. Liberal-minded professors at Brandon encouraged students to question their fundamentalist religious beliefs. Christianity, they suggested, was just as concerned with the pursuit of social justice as it was with the struggle for individual salvation. Douglas took a course in socialism at Brandon and studied Greek philosophy.^[10] He came first in his class during his first three years, then competed for gold medals in his last three with a newly-arrived student named Stanley Knowles. Both later became ministers of religion and prominent left-wing politicians.^[11] Douglas was extremely active in extracurricular activities. Among other things, he became a champion debater, wrote for the school newspaper and participated in student government winning election as Senior Stick, or president of the student body, in his final year.^[12]

Douglas financed his education at Brandon College by conducting Sunday services at several rural churches for $15 a week. A shortage of ordained clergy forced smaller congregations to rely on student ministers. Douglas reported later that he preached sermons advocating social reform and helping the poor. "[T]he Bible is like a bull fiddle", he said, "you can play almost any tune you want on it." He added that his interest in social and economic questions led him to preach about "building a society and building institutions that would uplift mankind."^[13] He also earned money delivering entertaining monologues and poetry recitations at church suppers and service-club meetings for five dollars a performance.^[14] During his second and third years at the College, he preached at a Presbyterian church in Carberry, Manitoba. There he met a farmer's daughter named Irma Dempsey who would later become his wife.^[15]

M.A. thesis on eugenics[link]

Douglas graduated from Brandon College in 1930, and completed his Master's degree (M.A.) in Sociology from McMaster University in 1933. His thesis entitled The Problems of the Subnormal Family endorsed eugenics.^[16] The thesis proposed a system that would have required couples seeking to marry to be certified as mentally and morally fit. Those deemed to be "subnormal" because of low intelligence, moral laxity or venereal disease would be sent to state farms or camps while those judged to be mentally defective or incurably diseased would be sterilized.^[17]

Douglas rarely mentioned his thesis later in his life and his government never enacted eugenics policies even though two official reviews of Saskatchewan's mental health system recommended such a program when he became premier and minister of health.^[17] By that time, many people questioned eugenics after Nazi Germany had embraced it to create a "master race".^[18] Instead, Douglas implemented vocational training for the mentally handicapped and therapy for those suffering from mental disorders.^{[19][Note 1]}

PhD research in Chicago[link]

In the summer of 1931, Douglas continued his studies in sociology at the University of Chicago. He never did complete his PhD thesis, but was deeply disturbed by his field work in the Depression-era "jungles" or hobo camps where about 75,000 transients sheltered in lean-tos venturing out by day to beg or to steal. Douglas interviewed men who once belonged to the American middle class --- despondent bank clerks, lawyers and doctors. "There were little soup kitchens run by the Salvation Army and the churches", Douglas said later. "In the first half hour they'd be cleaned out. After that there was nothing...It was impossible to describe the hopelessness."^[23] Douglas was equally disturbed that members of the Socialist Party sat around quoting Marx and Lenin, waiting for a revolution while refusing to help the destitute. "That experience soured me with absolutists", Douglas said. "I've no patience with people who want to sit back and talk about a blueprint for society and do nothing about it."^[24]

From pulpit to politics[link]

Two months after Douglas graduated from Brandon College, he married Irma Dempsey and the two moved to the small town of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where he became an ordained minister at the Calvary Baptist Church.^[25] Irma was 19, while Douglas was 25.^[26] With the onset of the Depression, Douglas became a social activist in Weyburn, and joined the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) organization. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1935 federal election.^[27]

During the September 1939 special House of Commons debate on entering the war, Douglas, who had visited Nazi Germany in 1936 and was disgusted by what he saw, supported going to war against Hitler.^[28] He was not a pacifist and stated his reasons:

If you accept the completely absolutist position of the pacifist, then you are saying that you are prepared to allow someone else who has no such scruples to destroy all the values you've built up. This what I used to argue with Mr. Woodworth . . . if you came to a choice between losing freedom of speech, religion, association, thought, and all the things that make life worth living, and resorting to force, you'd used force. What you have internationally is what you have within a nation. You must have law and order, and you must have the necessary military means to enforce that law and order.^[29]

Douglas and Coldwell's position was eventually adopted by the CCF National Council, but they also did not admonish Woodworth's pacifist stand, and allowed him to put it forward in the House.^[29] Douglas assisted Woodsworth, during his leader's speech, by holding up the pages and turning them for him, even though he disagreed with him.^[30] Woodsworth had suffered a stroke earlier in the year and he needed someone to hold his notes, and Douglas still held him in very high regard, and dutifully assisted his leader.^[30]

After the outbreak of World War II, Douglas enlisted in the wartime Canadian Army.^[31] He had volunteered for overseas service and was on a draft of men headed for the Winnipeg Grenadiers when a medical examination turned up his old leg problems.^[31] Douglas stayed in Canada and the Grenadiers headed for Hong Kong. If not for that ailment, he would likely have been with the regiment when its members were killed or captured at Hong Kong in December 1941.^[31]

Premier of Saskatchewan[link]

Despite being a federal Member of Parliament and not yet an MLA, Douglas was elected the leader of the Saskatchewan CCF in 1942 but did not resign from the House of Commons until 1 June 1944.^[32] He led the CCF to power in the 1944 provincial election, winning 47 of 53 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and thus forming the first democratic socialist government in not only Canada, but all of North America. As premier, Douglas attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.^[33]

Douglas and the Saskatchewan CCF then went on to win five straight majority victories in all subsequent Saskatchewan provincial elections up to 1960. Most of his government's pioneering innovations came about during its first term, including:

• the creation of the publicly owned Saskatchewan Power Corp., successor to the Saskatchewan Electrical Power Commission, which began a long program of extending electrical service to isolated farms and villages;
• the creation of Canada's first publicly owned automotive insurance service, the Saskatchewan Government Insurance Office;
• the creation of a large number of Crown Corporations, many of which competed with existing private sector interests;
• legislation that allowed the unionization of the public service;
• a program to offer free hospital care to all citizens—the first in Canada.
• passage of the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights, legislation that broke new ground as it protected both fundamental freedoms and equality rights against abuse not only by government actors but also on the part of powerful private institutions and persons. (The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights preceded the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations by 18 months).

Premier Douglas was the first head of any government in Canada to call for a constitutional bill of rights. This he did at a federal-provincial conference in Quebec City in January 1950. No one in attendance at the conference supported him in this. Ten years later, Premier Lesage of Quebec joined with Premier Douglas at a First Ministers' Conference in July 1960, in advocating for a constitutional bill of rights. Thus, respectable momentum was given to the idea that finally came to fruition, on 17 April 1982, with the proclamation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.^[34]

Thanks to a booming postwar economy and the prudent financial management of provincial treasurer Clarence Fines, the Douglas government slowly paid off the huge public debt left by the previous Liberal government, and created a budget surplus for the Saskatchewan government. Coupled with a federal government promise in 1959 to give even more money for medical care, this paved the way for Douglas's most notable achievement, the introduction of universal health care legislation in 1961.

Medicare[link]

Douglas's number one concern was the creation of Medicare. In the summer of 1962, Saskatchewan became the centre of a hard-fought struggle between the provincial government, the North American medical establishment, and the province's physicians, who brought things to a halt with the 1962 Saskatchewan Doctors' Strike. The doctors believed their best interests were not being met and feared a significant loss of income as well as government interference in medical care decisions even though Douglas agreed that his government would pay the going rate for service that doctors charged. The medical establishment claimed that Douglas would import foreign doctors to make his plan work and used racist images to try to scare the public.^[35] Their defenders have also argued that private or government medical insurance plans covered 60 to 63 percent of the Saskatchewan population before Medicare legislation was introduced.^{[citation needed]}

Douglas is widely hailed as the father of Medicare, and took the opportunity to take his cause to the federal stage. Thus, in 1961, he retired from his position as Saskatchewan's premier and turned over the job to Woodrow Lloyd, taking leadership of the federal New Democratic Party.

The Saskatchewan program was finally launched by his successor, Woodrow Lloyd, in 1962. The success of the province's public health care program was not lost on the federal government. Another Saskatchewan politician, newly elected Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, decreed in 1958 that any province seeking to introduce a hospital plan would receive 50 cents on the dollar from the federal government. In 1962, Diefenbaker appointed Justice Emmett Hall—also of Saskatchewan, a noted jurist and Supreme Court Justice—to Chair a Royal Commission on the national health system—the Royal Commission on Health Services. In 1964, Justice Hall recommended the nationwide adoption of Saskatchewan's model of public health insurance. In 1966, the Liberal minority government of Lester B. Pearson created such a program, with the federal government paying 50% of the costs and the provinces the other half. So, the adoption of health care across Canada ended up being the work of three men with diverse political ideals - Tommy Douglas, John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson.

Federal NDP leader[link]

Becoming the New Party's first leader[link]

Tommy Douglas, c. 1971

The 1958 Canadian general election was a disaster for the CCF,^[36] with its caucus reduced to eight, and its leader M.J. Coldwell losing his own seat, the party executive knew that their party was dying and needed radical change.^[37] Coldwell was persuaded by the party's executive to remain as the party's leader.^[38] But the party also needed a leader in the House of Commons to replace him, because he obviously was no longer a member of parliament. The CCF parliamentary caucus chose Hazen Argue as its new leader in the House.^[38] During the lead-up to the 1960 CCF convention, Argue was pressing Coldwell to step down. This leadership challenge jeopardized plans for an orderly transition to the new party that was being planned by the CCF and the Canadian Labour Congress. CCF national president David Lewis – who succeeded Coldwell as president in 1958, when the national chairman and national president positions were merged – and the rest of the new party's organizers, opposed Argue's manoeuvres, and wanted Douglas to be the new party's first leader.^[39] To prevent their plans from derailing, Lewis attempted to persuade Argue not to force a vote at the convention on the question of the party's leadership. He was unsuccessful. There was a split between the parliamentary caucus and the party executive on the convention floor.^[40] Coldwell stepped-down as leader, and Argue replaced him, becoming the party's final national leader.^[40]

As far back as 1941, Coldwell wanted Douglas to succeed him in leading the National CCF (at that time, it was obvious that Coldwell would be assuming the national leadership in the near future).^[41] When the time came for the "New Party" to form, in 1961, Coldwell pressured Douglas to run for the leadership.^[41] Coldwell did not trust Argue, and many in the CCF leadership thought that he was already having secret meetings with the Liberals to merge the "New Party" with the Liberal Party of Canada.^[41] As well, it was thought by Coldwell and Douglas, that Lewis would not be a viable alternative to Argue, because he likely could not defeat him, partially due to his lack of a parliamentary seat but also, and likely more importantly, his role as party disciplinarian over the years, made him many enemies, enough to potentially prevent him from winning the leadership.^[41] Douglas, after much consultation, with Coldwell, Lewis and his caucus, decided in June 1961 to reluctantly contest the leadership of the New Party.^[41] He handily defeated Argue on 3 August 1961 at the first NDP leadership convention in Ottawa, and became the new party's first leader.^[42] Six months later Argue crossed-the-floor, and became a Liberal.^[43][44]

House of Commons, Act II[link]

Douglas resigned from provincial politics and sought election to the House of Commons in the riding of Regina City in 1962, but was defeated by Ken More. He was later elected in a by-election in the riding of Burnaby—Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Re-elected as MP for that riding in the 1963 and 1965 elections, Douglas lost the redistricted seat of Burnaby—Seymour in the 1968 federal election. He won a seat again in a 1969 by-election in the riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands, following the death of Colin Cameron in 1968, and represented it until his retirement from electoral politics in 1979.

While the NDP did better in elections than its CCF predecessor, the party did not experience the breakthrough it had hoped for and did not recognize his abilities until later in the days. Despite this, Douglas was greatly respected by party members and Canadians at large as the party wielded considerable influence during the minority governments of Lester Pearson.

The War Measures Act, 1970[link]

The October 1970 Quebec FLQ Crisis put Douglas and David Lewis – now a Member of Parliament – on the "hotseat", with Lewis being the only NDP MP with any roots in Quebec.^[45] He and Lewis were opposed to the October 16 implementation of the War Measures Act.^[46] The Act, enacted previously only for wartime purposes, imposed extreme limitations on civil liberties, and gave the police and military vastly expanded powers for arresting and detaining suspects, usually with little to no evidence required.^[46] Although it was only meant to be used in Quebec, since it was federal legislation, it was in-force throughout Canada. Some police services, from outside of Quebec, took advantage of it for their own purposes, which mostly had nothing even remotely related to the Quebec situation, as Lewis and Douglas suspected.^[46] Sixteen of the 20 members of the NDP parliamentary caucus voted against the implementation of the War Measures Act in the House of Commons.^[47]

They took much grief for being the only parliamentarians to vote against it.^[46] Lewis, speaking for the party at a press scrum that day: "The information we do have, showed a situation of criminal acts and criminal conspiracy in Quebec. But, there is no information that there was unintended, or apprehended, or planned insurrection, which alone, would justify invoking the War Measures Act."^[48] About five years later, many of the MPs who voted to implement it regretted doing so, and belatedly honoured Douglas and Lewis for their stand against it.^[46] Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield went so far as to say that, "Quite frankly, I've admired Tommy Douglas and David Lewis, and those fellows in the NDP for having the courage to vote against that, although they took a lot of abuse at the time....I don't brood about it. I'm not proud of it."^[46]

Late career and retirement[link]

He resigned as NDP leader in 1971, but retained his seat in the House of Commons. Around the same time as the leadership convention held to replace him, he asked the party not to buy him an elaborate parting gift.^[49] Instead, he and his friend and political mentor M.J. Coldwell were honoured by the party with the creation of the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation in 1971. He served as the NDP's energy critic under the new leader, David Lewis. He was re-elected in the riding of Nanaimo–Cowichan–The Islands in the 1972 and 1974 elections.^[27] He retired from politics in 1979 and served on the board of directors of Husky Oil, an Alberta oil and gas exploration company that had holdings in Saskatchewan.

In 1980 he was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa by Carleton University in Ottawa. On 22 June 1981, Douglas was appointed to the Order of Canada as a Companion for his service as a political leader, and innovator in public policy.^[50] 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 his old friend, Stanley Knowles.

In June 1984 Douglas was injured when he was struck by a bus, but he quickly recovered and on his 80th birthday he claimed to The Globe and Mail that he usually walked up to five miles a day.^[51] By this point in his life his memory was beginning to slow down and he stopped accepting speaking engagements but remained active in the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation. Later that year, he became a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 30 November.^[52][53]

Douglas died of cancer on 24 February 1986 at the age of 81 in Ottawa.^[54][55] In a national TV contest, conducted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 2004, he was crowned "Greatest Canadian" by viewers in an online vote, almost 18 years after his death.^[56]

Tributes[link]

Douglas Provincial Park near Saskatchewan's Lake Diefenbaker and Qu'Appelle River Dam was named after him. A statue of him, created by Lea Vivot, was erected in his hometown of Weyburn in October 2010. Several schools have been named after him, and a student housing Co-op in Toronto, Campus Co-operative Residences Inc., named one of their houses after him as well.^[57]

Artistic depiction[link]

In the two CBC Television mini-series about Pierre Trudeau, Trudeau and Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making, Douglas is portrayed by Eric Peterson. In the biography mini-series, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, which aired on 12 and 13 March 2006, also on CBC, Douglas was played by Michael Therriault. The movie was widely derided by critics as being historically inaccurate. Particularly, the movie's portrayal of James Gardiner, premier of Saskatchewan from the late 1920s to mid-1930s, was objected to by political historians and the Gardiner family itself. In response, the CBC consulted a "third party historian" to review the film and pulled it from future broadcasts, including halting all home and educational sales.^[58] Prairie Giant was shown in Asia on the Hallmark Channel on 11 and 12 June 2007.^[58][59]

Douglas was also the subject of a 1986 National Film Board of Canada documentary Tommy Douglas: Keeper of the Flame, which received the Gemini Award for Best Writing in a Documentary Program or Series.^[60] Douglas was mentioned in the Michael Moore documentary Sicko, which compared the health care system in the United States with that of Canada and other countries.

Fables[link]

"The Cream Separator" is a fable, written by Douglas, which aims to explain the inherent injustices of the capitalist system as it relates to the agricultural sector by making the analogy that the upper-class gets the cream, the middle-class gets the whole milk and the farmers and industrial workers get a watery substance that barely resembles milk.^[61][62]

He was also known for his retelling of the fable of "Mouseland", likens the majority of voters as mice, and how they either elect black or white cats as their politicians, but never their own mice: meaning that workers and their general interests were not being served by electing wealthy politicians from the Liberal or Conservative parties (black and white cats), and that only a party from their class (mice), originally the CCF, later the NDP, could serve their interests (mice).^[63] Years later, his famous grandson, television actor Kiefer Sutherland, provided the introduction to a Mouseland animated video that used a Douglas Mouseland speech as its narration.^[64]

Honorary degrees[link]

Douglas received honorary degrees from several universities, including:

• University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (LL.D) in 1962^[65]
• McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (LL.D) in May 1969^[66]
• Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario (LL.D) on 27 May 1972 ^[67]
• University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1978
• Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario in 1980
• University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia 27 May 1981
• Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario (LL.D) in 1983^[68]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References[link]

Notes[link]

Citations[link]

Bibliography[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tommy Douglas

• Tommy Douglas and his Government 1944-1960
• Biography of Thomas Clement Douglas
• CBC Digital Archives - Tommy Douglas and the NDP
• Order of Canada citation
• Tommy Douglas - Parliament of Canada biography
• Tommy Douglas at Find a Grave
• Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
• Douglas Provincial Park

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