Tommy Douglas - The story of Mouseland

[Ichingcarpenter]

Run time: 04:01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWKsR0gugww   Posted on YouTube: June 18, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 16, 2008 By DU Member: Ichingcarpenter Views on DU: 637

 
Tommy Douglas was voted as the greatest Canadian of All Time. This is from
the Canadian Broadcast Corporation's story of his life and times

Tommy Douglas As leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1942 and the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961, he led the first socialist government in North America and introduced universal public healthcare to Canada.

When the CCF united with the Canadian Labour Congress to form the New Democratic Party, he was elected as its first federal leader and served in that post from 1961 to 1971. He is warmly remembered for his folksy wit and oratory with which he expressed his determined idealism, exemplified by his fable of Mouseland.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas

[IntravenousDemilo]

1. Much appreciated

Thank you for this.

[Bruce McAuley]

2. A big K+R for Tommy Douglas

We need a guy like him, but the cats would eat him alive today.
Thank God for the Canadians for showing how we could do it too.

Bruce

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. We have a few in Congress like him but mostly Black Cats and White Cats

His record was solid

Most of his government's pioneering innovations came about during its first term, including:

* the creation of the publicly owned Saskatchewan Power Corp., successor to the Saskatchewan Electrical Power Commission, which began a long program of extending electrical service to isolated farms and villages;

* the creation of Canada's first publicly owned automobile insurance service, the Saskatchewan Government Insurance Office;

* the creation of a large number of Crown Corporations, many of which competed with existing private sector interests;

* legislation that allowed the unionization of the public service;

* a program to offer free hospital care to all citizens—the first in Canada.

* passage of the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights, legislation that broke new ground as it protected both fundamental freedoms and equality rights against abuse not only by government actors but also on the part of powerful private institutions and persons. (The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights preceded the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations by 18 months).

[Lisa]

4. kicked and recommended for Tommy ...

I never had a chance to meet him, but many people I know did. Quite an amazing guy.

[ghostsofgiants]

5. Ahh, Tommy, one of my favourites.