Tommy Douglas

The Honourable and Reverend Tommy Douglas PC, CC, SOM
Douglas in 1945
Leader of the New Democratic Party
In office 3 August 1961 – 24 April 1971
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	David Lewis
7th Premier of Saskatchewan
In office 10 July 1944 – 7 November 1961
Monarch	George VI Elizabeth II
Lieutenant Governor	Archibald Peter McNab Thomas Miller Reginald J.M. Parker John M. Uhrich William J. Patterson Frank Lindsay Bastedo
Preceded by	William John Patterson
Succeeded by	Woodrow Lloyd
Member of the House of Commons of Canada
In office 10 February 1969 – 22 May 1979
Preceded by	Colin Cameron
Succeeded by	Riding dissolved
Constituency	Nanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands
In office 22 October 1962 – 25 June 1968
Preceded by	Erhart Regier
Succeeded by	Riding dissolved
Constituency	Burnaby—Coquitlam
In office 14 October 1935 – 15 June 1944
Preceded by	Edward James Young
Succeeded by	Eric Bowness McKay
Constituency	Weyburn
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
In office 15 June 1944 – 7 November 1961
Preceded by	George Crane
Succeeded by	Junior Staveley
Constituency	Weyburn—Big Muddy
Personal details
Born	Thomas Clement Douglas (1904-10-20)20 October 1904 Camelon, Falkirk, Scotland
Died	24 February 1986( 1986-02-24) (aged 81) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Resting place	Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political party	CCF (1935–1961) NDP (1961–1986)
Spouse(s)	Irma Dempsey
Alma mater	Brandon University McMaster University University of Chicago
Profession	Baptist minister
Religion	Christian (Baptist)
Signature

Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, PC CC SOM (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Canadian social democratic politician and Baptist minister. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He left federal politics to become the Saskatchewan CCF's leader and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961. His government was the first social democratic government in North America, and it introduced the continent's first single-payer, universal health care program.

After setting up Saskatchewan's medicare program, Douglas stepped down as premier and ran to lead the newly formed federal New Democratic Party (NDP), the successor party of the National CCF. He was elected as its first federal leader in 1961. Although Douglas never led the party to government, through much of his tenure, the party held the balance of power in the House of Commons. He was noted as being the main opposition to the imposition of the War Measures Act during the 1970 October Crisis. He resigned as leader the next year, but remained as a Member of Parliament until 1979.

Douglas was awarded many honorary degrees, and a foundation was named for him and his political mentor Major James Coldwell in 1971. In 1981, he was invested into the Order of Canada, and he became a member of Canada's Privy Council in 1984, two years before his death. In 2004, a CBC Television program named Tommy Douglas "The Greatest Canadian", based on a Canada-wide, viewer-supported survey.