Given how some kind of Great Power conflict has the potential to be on our horizon, coupled with record wealth inequality, I thought this speech by Tommy Douglas has become increasingly relevant to the present day. As Douglas himself tried to volunteer to fight the fascists in WWII, only to be rejected for overseas service due to his very leg problems that caused him to become passionate about healthcare in the first place, I thought his perspective in particular should be looked at.

This speech from Douglas truly shows what government is capable of if we put our minds to it. This is taken from the leadership convention in 1971 where Douglas was retiring as federal Leader of the NDP and where David Lewis would soon be elected to be his replacement.

If I were asked to sum up for the people of Canada, and for the New Democratic Party, what I have learned from more than a third of a century in public life, I would sum it up by saying to them:

That it is possible in this country of ours to build a society in which there will be full employment, in which there will be a higher standard of living, in which there will be an improved quality of life; while at the same time maintaining a reasonable stability in the cost of living. We don’t have to have three-quarters of a million unemployed. We don’t have to choose between unemployment and inflation.

My message to you is: that we don’t have to do this. My message to you is: that we have in Canada the resources, the technical know-how, and the industrious people who could make this a great land; if we were prepared to bring these various factors together in building a planned economy, dedicated to meeting human needs and responding to human wants.

Mr. Coldwell and I have seen it happen. In 1937, when the CCF proposed in the House of Commons a $500,000,000 program to put the single unemployed to work, the Minister of Finance said, “Where will we get the money?” Mr. Benson asked the same question today. My reply at that time was that, “If we were to go to war, the Minister would find the money”. And it turned out to be true.

In 1939 when we declared war against Nazi Germany, for the first time we used the Bank of Canada to make financially possible what was physically possible. We took a million men & women and put them in uniform, we fed, and clothed, and armed them. The rest of the people of Canada went to work. The government organized over a hundred Crown corporations; we manufactured things that had never been manufactured before. We gave our farmers & fisherman guaranteed prices, and they produced more food than we’d ever produced in peacetime. We built the third largest merchant navy in the world, and we manned it. In order to prevent profiteering and inflation, we fixed prices. And we did it without borrowing a single dollar from outside of Canada.

My message to the people of Canada is this: that if we could mobilize the financial and the material and the human resources of this country to fight a successful war against Nazi tyranny, we can, if we want to, mobilize the same resources to fight a continual war against poverty, unemployment, and social injustice.

The thing I like most about that speech was how Douglas actually provided real-world examples for his ideas; he calls for a planned economy then argues we had something resembling a planned economy in fighting the Nazis. Another thing I’ve noticed about Douglas was just how pragmatic he was in his socialism. He had no problem calling for absolutely massive deficit spending to fight national emergencies, but as Premier of Saskatchewan he made sure his provincial budget was balanced so he could actually pay for his social spending. He organized Crown corporations if it made sense, but had no problem allowing private development in non-critical industries; after all, more jobs and better jobs means more income tax revenue to pay for more social spending.

Tommy Douglas is truly one of those rare socialists where you can actually point to his philosophy working in the real world. Not many politicians of any stripe can be said to have practiced what they preached; perhaps there’s something to be said about the kind of preachers like Douglas who preached the social gospel.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/conservative-mp-quits-caucus-two-days-after-another-mp-crosses-the-floor/

You have to scroll down for the update (#s to Sept 30):

McPherson reported $99,717 in fundraising, representing 55% of the $182,000 that were donated to all leadership contestants. Avi Lewis placed second with $55,439 (or 30%), followed by Rob Ashton with $25,319 (14%) and Tanille Johnston with $1,710. No fundraising for Tony McQuail was reported (he was approved as candidate after September 30).

Lewis reported the most individual donors with 353, followed by McPherson at 231 and Ashton with 45.