Tommy Douglas crowned 'Greatest Canadian'

[Minstrel Boy]

:party: :toast: :party:

Tommy Douglas crowned "Greatest Canadian"

TORONTO - Tommy Douglas, the former Saskatchewan premier who is credited with being the founding father of Canada's health-care system, was named Monday night as the winner in the CBC's Greatest Canadian contest.

The socialist politician was chosen by CBC viewers as the Canadian who has had the most profound impact on the country's history.

Marathon of Hope runner Terry Fox placed second in the voting.

Behind Fox was former Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2004/11/29/Arts/TommyDouglasGreatestCanadian041129.html

From the CBC Archives: "Medicare and Social Welfare: Tommy Douglas and the NDP"
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-851/politics_economy/tommy_douglas/

From "Mouseland," a political fable by Tommy Douglas:

Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows. They conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws--that is, laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren't very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouseholes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds--so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort. All the laws were good laws. For cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more, they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls. They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats.

...

And when they couldn't take that anymore, they voted the white cats out and put the black ones in again. Then they went back to the white cats. Then to the black cats. They even tried half black cats and half white cats. And they called that coalition. They even got one government made up of cats with spots on them: they were cats that tried to make a noise like a mouse but ate like a cat.

You see, my friends, the trouble wasn't with the colour of the cat. The trouble was that they were cats. And because they were cats, they naturally looked after cats instead of mice.

Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, "Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don't we elect a government made up of mice?" "Oh," they said, "he's a Bolshevik. Lock him up!" So they put him in jail.

But I want to remind you: that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can't lock up an idea.
http://www.saskndp.com/history/mouseland.html

A Quicktime movie of Mouseland here.

A Quicktime recording of Tommy's address to the 1983 NDP convention here.