FEATURES
Tommy Douglas, 1944.
Photograph appears courtesy of the Saskatchewan Archives, R-A7922.
Thomas Clement Douglas was officially voted The Greatest Canadian on the CBC Television series nearly two decades after his death. It was proof that, like Abraham Lincoln for the Americans or Winston Churchill for the British, Tommy Douglas has somehow transcended being a politician, and become a cultural icon.
People who knew him well say he would have laughed heartily at the notion of being The Greatest Canadian.
Douglas was a reluctant recipient of tributes, and actively discouraged efforts to put up statues or monuments in his name. But even though he’d been gone since 1986, most Canadians, it seems, were delighted when Tommy was given the honour. After all, as the Father of Medicare, Tommy gave the country one of its touchstones.
Tommy Douglas, ushered Canada into the modern era. Medicare, public funding for the arts, human rights legislation, a professional civil service and more all happened first in Saskatchewan under Douglas' leadership. And now he occupies a unique place in the nation's psyche. Dream No Little Dreams is narrated by Eric Peterson.
AUDIO
RESOURCES
Books
Saskatchewan: A New History, by Bill Waiser, published by Fifth House.
Tommy: The Life and Times of Tommy Douglas, by Walter Stewart, published by McArthur & Company.
Dream No Little Dreams: A Biogrpahy of the Douglas Government of Saskatchewan, 1944-61, by Al Johnson, published by University of Toronto Press.
Tommy Douglas: The Road to Jerusalem, by Thomas & Ian McLeod, published by Fifth House.
Tommy Douglas: Building the New Society, by Dave Margoshes, published by XYZ Publishing.
Related Websites
CBC Archives - Tommy Douglas and the NDP - includes many audio and video clips
Moments in History - Lost and Found Sound - CBC Radio This Morning
Listen to a speech delivered by Tommy Douglas on Robbie Burns Day in Edmonton, 1957
The Douglas Coldwell Foundation - Federal NDP Leaders
The Saskatchewan NDP's History of Tommy Douglas and his Government, 1944 - 1960
The Weyburn Review
Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story - CBC TV Mini-Series
The Saskatchewan Centennial website
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