Ted Jolliffe

Edward Bigelow Jolliffe
Ted Jolliffe in 1943, MPP York South
Leader of the Ontario CCF
In office 1942–1953
Preceded by	Samuel Lawrence (as CCF president)
Succeeded by	Donald C. MacDonald
Constituency	Ontario
Member of Provincial Parliament
In office 1943–1945
Preceded by	Leopold Macaulay, Conservative
Succeeded by	Howard Julian Sale, Progressive Conservative
Constituency	York South
Member of Provincial Parliament
In office 1948–1951
Preceded by	Howard Julian Sale, Progressive Conservative
Succeeded by	William George Beech, Progressive Conservative
Constituency	York South
Personal details
Born	March 2, 1909 Luchow, China
Died	March 18, 1998(1998-03-18) (aged 89) Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
Political party	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Spouse(s)	Ruth Conger Jolliffe (née Moore)
Children	Naomi, John, Nancy and Thomas
Residence	Toronto, Ontario
Occupation	Lawyer
Religion	United Church of Canada

Edward Bigelow "Ted" Jolliffe, QC (March 2, 1909 – March 18, 1998) was a Canadian social democratic politician and lawyer from Ontario. He was the first leader of the Ontario section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and leader of the Official Opposition in the Ontario Legislature during the 1940s and 1950s. He was a Rhodes Scholar in the mid-1930s, and came back to Canada to help the CCF, after his studies were complete and being called to the bar in England and Ontario. After politics, he practised labour law in Toronto and would eventually become a labour adjudicator. In retirement, he moved to British Columbia, where he died in 1998.

His family had lived in Ontario for generations. His parents, the Reverend Charles and Gertrude Jolliffe, were missionaries for the Methodist Church of Canada, and were living near what was then known as Luchow, China. He was born at the Canadian Missionary hospital in Luchow, near Chunking on March 2, 1909. He was home-schooled in China by his mother until his early teens. When his family returned to Ontario, he attend Rockwood Public School and then went to high school at Guelph Collegiate Institute. He was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, the United Church College. He became the head of the Victoria Student Council, and was a member of the Hart House Debates Committee. In 1930, he won the Maurice Cody scholarship, and then became one of Ontario's Rhodes Scholars that same year. He attended Oxford University for three years, and was affiliated with its Christ Church College. As a member of Oxford's Labour Club, he met David Lewis, the club's leader and a fellow Canadian. Together they fought the Communist Red October club and fascists such as Lord Haw-Haw–William Joyce. Both he and Lewis planned a 'silent' protest at Joyce's February 1934 speech at Oxford. They carefully made sure that enough members from the Labour Club attended the meeting, and then in groups of two or three, strategically walked out of the speech, across the creaking wooden floors, effectively blotting out Joyce's speech. The Blackshirts in the audience then caused riots in the street after the meeting and Jolliffe and Lewis were in the thick of it.