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He was a leading figure in the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a left-wing political party, and, as premier, formed North America's first socialist government, introducing social reforms such as hospital insurance, the beginning of Canada's medicare program.
Douglas was born in 1904 in Falkirk, Scotland. In 1910Events January events January 13 The first live musical radio program. Lee De Forest broadcasts a live performance of Enrico Caruso from the Metropolitan Opera. January 26 ? Seine floods in Paris. February events February 8 The Boy Scouts of America is in, his family immigrated to Canada, where they located in Winnipeg. During World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of, the family returned to GlasgowFor other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation Glasgow is Scotland's largest city, located on the River Clyde in West Central Scotland. It is also one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, officially known as the City of Glasgow and, like many west of S but came back to Winnipeg in 19201920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) Events January January 7 Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. January 9 Britain announces it will build 100,000 homes for war veterans. January 10 Leagu.
As a preacher, Douglas was influenced by the social gospel movement, which believed in combining ChristianChristian is: a follower of the faith of Christianity a popular first name and surname, especially in Northern Europe According to the New Testament, those who followed Jesus as his disciples were first called Christians by those who did not share their f principles with social reform. After graduating from Brandon CollegeBrandon University is a Canadian university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba. The current location was founded on July 13, 1900, however, it was not chartered as a university until June 5, 1967. The university is a member of the Association of Uni 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.
Douglas was an active Member of Parliament, but he also maintained an interest in provincial politics, and became the leader of the Saskatchwan 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. However, most of his government's pioneering innovations were concentrated in its first term, including:
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 goverment. This paved the way for Douglas's biggest achievement, the introduction of universal medicare legislation in 1961. But although Douglas is often described as the " father of medicare" in Canada, the Saskatchewan program was actually 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.
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 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. It was largely Douglas' influence that led to the medicare becoming a national program.
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 the mid 1980s, Brandon University created a students' union building in honour of Douglas and old friend Stanley Knowles.
Douglas died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 81.
He is the father of Canadian actress Shirley Douglas, and the grandfather of actor Kiefer Sutherland.
In 2004, in The Greatest Canadian project, Douglas was voted into the top 10. He is currently the frontrunner for in the current contest for the title of the Greatest one of all.