Tommy Douglas

The Reverend and Honourable Tommy Douglas PC CC SOM
Douglas, c. 1950s
Leader of the New Democratic Party
In office 3 August 1961 – 24 April 1971
Preceded by	Hazen Argue (as leader of the CCF)
Succeeded by	David Lewis
7th Premier of Saskatchewan
In office 10 July 1944 – 7 November 1961
Monarchs	George VI Elizabeth II
Lieutenant Governor	Archibald Peter McNab Thomas Miller Reginald J. M. Parker John M. Uhrich William John Patterson Frank Lindsay Bastedo
Preceded by	William John Patterson
Succeeded by	Woodrow Lloyd
Leader of the Saskatchewan CCF
In office 17 July 1942 – 3 November 1961
Preceded by	John Brockelbank
Succeeded by	Woodrow Lloyd
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Canadian Parliament
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 for Weyburn
In office 15 March 1944 – 7 November 1961
Preceded by	George Crane
Succeeded by	Junior Staveley
Personal details
Born	Thomas Clement Douglas (1904-10-20)20 October 1904 Camelon, Scotland, United Kingdom
Died	24 February 1986(1986-02-24) (aged 81) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Resting place	Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa
Political party	CCF (1935–1961) NDP (1961–1986)
Spouse	Irma Dempsey ​ (m. 1930)​
Children	2, including Shirley Douglas
Relatives	Kiefer Sutherland (grandson) Sarah Sutherland (great-granddaughter)
Alma mater	Brandon University McMaster University University of Chicago
Profession	Baptist minister
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Thomas Clement Douglas PC CC SOM (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as the seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Baptist minister, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He left federal politics to become Leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan. His government introduced the continent's first single-payer, universal health care program.

After setting up Saskatchewan's universal healthcare program, Douglas stepped down 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 M. J. 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.