Weyburn, Saskatchewan
Weyburn, Saskatchewan has been described as “a windblown, sun-dried, dust devilled, straggle of a place[1]” which it is, it is also the former home of Tommy Douglas, The Greatest Canadian[2].
[1] Stewart, Walter – The Life and Political Times of Tommy Douglas
[2] From a 2004 poll by the CBC
Tommy Douglas’ socialist ideals were forged in the heat of the prairie sun and polished by the relentless political winds of depression-era Saskatchewan. Preacher, Premier and the Father of Medicare, Douglas changed the nation and affected the world.
Tommy arrived in Weyburn in 1930 with a broken nose, a smile on his face, and a new job. At a feisty 135 lbs, Tommy had won two back-to-back boxing championships while at college, which accounted for the broken nose. Irma Dempsey, his new bride, was the source of the smile on his face; the job, as pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, was the venue Tommy needed to exercise theories of a social gospel which boiled inside him.
1930’s Saskatchewan was fertile ground for a burgeoning socialist. Drought, depression, labour unrest and widespread resentment of the political and corporate establishment had people searching for alternatives. Tommy gave them one. His voice resonated and his eyes flashed, like a growing prairie thunderstorm, as he urged cooperation, unity of cause, equality, and charity from the pulpit of his church.
Having converted his flock, Tommy expanded his horizons by running for political office. He represented Weyburn as MLA in 1935 and, after WW2, led the Saskatchewan CCF party to power; the first democratic socialist government in North America. Tommy held the position of Premier for five consecutive terms.
Not satisfied to transform a congregation, a constituency and a province, Tommy set his sights on the nation; he became leader of the federal NDP, a position he held for a decade.
Tommy Douglas’ grass roots ideals, conceived on the plains and nurtured in prairie soil, were so universally accepted they were either enacted as legislation by his party or adopted by others and endorsed as their own. Directly or indirectly, Tommy Douglas is responsible for our world-renowned medical system and for creating the compassionate social system we enjoy in Canada today.
Tommy Douglas, a little guy from a windy straggle of a place, became …
… The Greatest Canadian.
The current crop of gimmie, gimmie socialists would do well to read Tommy Douglas’ biography. Douglas gained his status as The Greatest Canadian by practicing a “roll up your sleeves, get to work, and make a better world”, variety of socialism.
This is one in a series of stories entitled Tales from Dead Ted’s, a chronicle of fictional events with just a kernel of truth in each. The events occurred in and around Arcola in the 1960s and 1970s. Click on the link below for more stories about growing up on the Canadian prairie.
wellwaterblog.ca – tales from dead ted’s
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