First of all, he was Scottish. Not only is that not Canadian, it is barely even British. Plus it means he likely shared carnal relations with a farm animal.
Second, his Dad was named Thomas, so he and his Dad had the same name. That's a little bourgeoisie for a CCFer, isn't it?
In high school he studied "elocution" which is essentially a fancy word for demagoguery. He later refined his devious mind-tricks at the McMaster debate club.
He failed to complete his PhD like he failed to leave Canada to go fight Hitler during WWII.
He became the leader of the Saskatchewan CCF in 1942 but did not bother to resign his position as a member of the House of Commons until the middle of 1944. He preferred to maximize his own standing even when it was clear he could not simultaneously run the provincial CCF while also fighting for his constituents' interests in Ottawa the way an MP should.
He caused the 1962 Saskatchewan doctor's strike then abandoned his party for federal politics, leaving his successor to implement state health-care in the province.
When he became leader of the federal NDP he went out and lost the seat he contested in the next federal election. Rather than accept his lumps he made one of his MPs way out in BC resign so he could parachute into their seat via by-election. The voters in his new riding had already grown sick of him five years later when they booted him out in the federal election of 1968. And once again he forced one of his loyal servants to give up their seat so he could sit in the House of Commons and watch the Liberals run the country. The federal election of 1968 was also notable for the NDP managing to edge out the Ralliement créditiste -- yes, that was a real party back then -- for third-party status.
He gets a lot of credit for "inventing" public health care in Canada. You can debate how much he actually contributed (to Lester B. Pearson's* Liberals creating Medicare in Canada), but what bothers me is that he only became passionate about the issue because he was saved by free health care as a child. It rings hollow when someone is afflicted by something and then suddenly that something is the most important issue in the world and everyone has to come together to support their cause because it is, like, super important now, guys, omg.
Once he retired from politics, Douglas used his connections to get a cushy job making big bucks as a corporate executive with Husky Oil. His experience as an energy critic made him a valuable lobbyist to the company. Nowadays, that sort of move from politics to lobbying would be prohibited.
Finally, Tommy Douglas is disqualified from being the Greatest Canadian of All-Time because his M.A.thesis was not just on the topic of the eugenics, it actually endorsed the "science". He wanted to test everybody for diseases, mental-handicaps and/or moral failings, then send those who failed to meet his standards away to state camps so they could be sterilized. He never recanted his endorsement of eugenics.
Tommy Douglas was not the Greatest Canadian. Deal with it, pinkos.
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ReplyDeleteYou're right, of course. I was being over-the-top when I made this post. Thanks for the comment.
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ReplyDeleteIt's funny how if Tommy Douglas had been a Tory there would be plenty of academics writing about his brutal eugenics schemes and exposing the dark side of his career. But because he was a leftist he essentially gets a free pass, just like many other prominent Western socialists of yesteryear, many of whom were into eugenics, held extremely racist beliefs, ;loved Mao, praised Stalin, etc... If any of the negative aspects of a mythologized lefty icon are ever discussed, their faults are forgiven and chalked down to their being "of their time". But if you were a libertarian, an old school conservative or a classical liberal, watch out 'cause they're coming to scrutinize your every hang nail. Tommy Douglas wanted disabled people forcibly sterilized and put in camps? No biggie! Meanwhile a lot of these same lefties spend their time trying to ban the word "bossy" because it's supposedly misogynist, find horrible injustice in the plots of superhero movies or write articles about how there aren't enough female winners on Jeopardy.
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