Joseph Needham (Canadian politician)
| Joseph Needham | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for The Battlefords |
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In office 1935–1940 |
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| Preceded by | District was created in 1933 |
| Succeeded by | John Gregory |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 23, 1876 Bromhall, Cheshire, England |
| Died | April 8, 1953 (aged 77) New Westminster, British Columbia |
| Political party | Social Credit |
| Spouse(s) | Charlotte Sterne m. June 16, 1915 |
| Residence | Unity, Saskatchewan |
Joseph Needham (March 23, 1876 – April 8, 1953) was a Saskatchewan politician, clergyman and public administrator.
Needham was born in Bromhall, Cheshire, England and emigrated to Canada where he settled in Saskatchewan. Ordained as a Methodist minister, Needham entered commercial life in 1919 in Unity, Saskatchewan near the Alberta border working as an agent and secretary and eventually becoming a hospital superintendent.
He was elected to the House of Commons in the 1935 federal election as a member of the first federal parliamentary caucus Social Credit MPs in Ottawa. Needham was one of only two of the 17 Social Credit MPs to have been elected from outside of Alberta having been returned from the Saskatchewan riding of The Battlefords.
Needham served as president of the Social Credit League of Saskatchewan during this period and was the nominal leader of the provincial party during the 1938 provincial election which saw the party win 15% of the votes but only two seats - Needham did not seek a provincial seat himself and remained in the House of Commons. He was re-elected to the position of provincial president in 1939.
In 1938, Needham suggested that there was a strong sentiment in Saskatchewan for secession from Canada earning him a rebuke from Saskatchewan's Minister of Public Works who said "such talk is nonsense!" Later that year, while speaking in favour of a state run health care plan he criticized the Ontario government of Mitchell Hepburn for its treatment of the Dionne Quintuplets saying "I've often wondered why the province of Ontario bothered so much about the quintuplets. They are no more valuable than my children or yours, but because they could be commercialized, it was worthwhile to give them the best treatment money could buy. We should try to commercialize all our children and build up the strongest and most virile race in the world."
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