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32-681: The Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in Regina , Saskatchewan , in 1933. The primary goal of the Regina Manifesto was to eradicate the system of capitalism and replace it with a planned socialist economy. The CCF was a Canadian democratic socialist party founded in 1932 by farmers, workers, and socialist groups against

64-600: A planned economy and a national banking system that would be "removed from the control of private profit-seeking interests." It advocated the ability to organize in trade unions and called for a National Labour Code "to secure for the worker maximum income and leisure, insurance covering illness, accident, old age, and unemployment". The Regina Manifesto proposed social service programs such as publicly funded health care , supported peace, promoted co-operative enterprises, and vowed that "No C.C.F. Government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation

96-551: A new political party that could make social democracy more popular with Canadian voters. This party, initially known as the New Party , became the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. The CCF estimated its membership as being slightly more than 20,000 in 1938, less than 30,000 in 1942, and over 90,000 in 1944. Membership figures declined following World War II to only 20,238 in 1950 and would never again reach 30,000 By

128-533: A school trustee that December. Mitchell did not run in the 1940 election , however, following the death of Welland 's Liberal MP in late 1941, Mitchell was appointed to the Cabinet of William Lyon Mackenzie King as Minister of Labour , and was elected shortly thereafter as the new Liberal MP for Welland. He served as Welland's MP and as Labour minister in the governments of King and Louis St. Laurent until his death in 1950. Mitchell became Labour minister just over

160-450: A year after the introduction of unemployment insurance in Canada, and oversaw the early implementation and expansion of the program. He also oversaw the mobilization of the labour force during World War II , and the widespread introduction of women into war production. With the responsibilities his department had for immigration, he also had a controversial role in advocating and implementing

192-585: The Cold War , the CCF was accused of having Communist leanings. The party moved to address these accusations in 1956 by replacing the Regina Manifesto with a more moderate document, the Winnipeg Declaration . Nevertheless, the party did poorly in the 1958 federal election , winning only eight seats. After much discussion, the CCF and the Canadian Labour Congress decided to join forces to create

224-532: The House of Commons of Canada . He did not get along well with the rump of Independent Labour MPs led informally by J.S. Woodsworth and referred to as the " Ginger Group ". While Mitchell attended the "founding meeting" of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in William Irvine 's office, he refused to join the new party when Labour MPs joined with farmers groups, socialist groups and others to officially launch

256-586: The Legislative Assembly of Ontario and to city council. The Liberals , in opposition having lost the previous year's general election did not run a candidate against Mitchell in order to avoid dividing the anti-Conservative vote. Given future events, it is also possible the Liberals believed that Mitchell would support the Liberal Party unofficially if elected. Mitchell won the by-election, and entered

288-509: The Regina Manifesto as the party's program. The manifesto outlined a number of goals, including public ownership of key industries, universal public pensions , universal health care , children's allowances, unemployment insurance , and workers' compensation . Its conclusion read, "No CCF Government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation the full programme of socialized planning which will lead to

320-609: The Saskatchewan CCF formed the first democratic socialist government in North America , with Tommy Douglas as premier . Douglas introduced universal Medicare to Saskatchewan , a policy that was soon adopted by other provinces and implemented nationally by the Liberal Party of Canada during the administration of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson . Tommy Douglas's CCF governed Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961. Federally, during

352-709: The CCF in 1932 and refused to work with its supporters in Parliament. In the 1935 general election , the CCF ran a candidate against Mitchell in Hamilton East (while the Liberals, again, ran no candidate). The split in the labour and anti-Tory vote resulted in the Conservative candidate defeating Mitchell despite the nationwide trend against the Conservatives. Mitchell was then acclaimed to the Hamilton Board of Education as

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384-503: The CCF in its next provincial convention, in January 1933. In its first federal election, seven CCF MPs were elected to the House of Commons in 1935 . Eight were elected in the following election in 1940 , including their first member east of Manitoba, Clarence Gillis , in Cape Breton, a coal-mining area of Nova Scotia (specifically the federal riding of Cape Breton South ). The party

416-484: The CCF was defined as a "community freed from the domination of irresponsible financial and economic power in which all social means of production and distribution, including land, are socially owned and controlled either by voluntarily organized groups of producers and consumers or – in the case of major public services and utilities and such productive and distributive enterprises as can be conducted most efficiently when owned in common – by public corporations responsible to

448-797: The Independent Labour Party (of Manitoba), the Canadian Labour Party (mostly in Edmonton), the Dominion Labour Party of southern Alberta, the UFA, and the United Farmers of Ontario (which withdrew from the CCF in 1934). Also involved in founding the new party were members of the League for Social Reconstruction (LSR), such as F. R. Scott and Frank Underhill . It can be said that the CCF

480-626: The President's position and re-elected M. J. Coldwell as the National Chairman. Coldwell was then appointed acting House Leader on 6 November. Woodsworth died on 21 March 1942, and Coldwell officially became the new leader at the July convention in Toronto and threw the party behind the war effort. As a memorial to Woodsworth, Coldwell suggested that the CCF create a research foundation, and Woodsworth House

512-559: The backdrop of the Great Depression . The manifesto was largely written by members of the League for Social Reconstruction , particularly Frank Underhill and F. R. Scott , and called for "a planned and socialized economy in which our natural resources and principal means of production and distribution are owned, controlled and operated by the people." Specifically it called for the nationalization of transportation, communications, electrical power and other services. It called for

544-447: The day-to-day organizing of the party. The national secretary was the only full-time employee at the party's national headquarters until 1943, when a research director, Eugene Forsey , and an assistant to the leader were hired. The CCF song would be later popularized by the movie Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story . First verse: Humphrey Mitchell Humphrey Mitchell , PC (September 9, 1894 – August 1, 1950)

576-417: The deportation or detention of tens of thousands of Japanese Canadians during the war. On Mr. Rennie's death, 13 October 1930: The office of Minister of Employment and Immigration, and Minister of Labour were abolished and the office of Minister of Human Resources Development went in force on July 12, 1996. Under the new provisions, a Minister of Labour may be appointed. However, when no Minister of Labour

608-476: The economy, and political reform. The object of the political party as reported at its founding meeting in Calgary in 1932 was "the federation [joining together] of organizations whose purpose is the establishment in Canada of a co-operative commonwealth, in which the basic principle of regulating production, distribution and exchange will be the supplying of human needs instead of the making of profit." The goal of

640-660: The establishment in Canada of the Co-operative Commonwealth." The party affiliated itself with the Socialist International . In line with Alberta's important role in founding the CCF, it is said that the first CCF candidate elected was Chester Ronning in the Alberta provincial constituency of Camrose, in October 1932. The UFA, under whose banner he contested the election, formalized its already-strong connection to

672-548: The full programme of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Cooperative Commonwealth ." The Regina Manifesto remained the CCF's official programme until 1956 when, in the face of the strong anti-communist sentiment of the Cold War , it was replaced by the more moderate Winnipeg Declaration which substituted Keynesian economics for socialist remedies. Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The full, but little used, name of

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704-561: The late 1940s, the CCF had official or unofficial weekly newspapers in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan; twice-monthly papers in Ontario and Manitoba; and a bimonthly in the Maritimes. A French-language paper in Quebec was also attempted at various times. The party also produced many educational books, pamphlets, and magazines, though these efforts declined in the 1950s. The national chairman

736-429: The party was Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Farmer-Labour-Socialist) . In 1961, the CCF was succeeded by the New Democratic Party (NDP). The CCF aimed to alleviate the suffering that workers and farmers, the ill and the old endured under capitalism, seen most starkly during the Great Depression , through the creation of a Co-operative Commonwealth, which would entail economic co-operation, public ownership of

768-506: The people's elected representatives". Many of the party's first Members of Parliament (MPs) were members of the Ginger Group , composed of United Farmers of Alberta, left-wing Progressive , and Labour MPs. These MPs included United Farmers of Alberta MPs William Irvine and Ted Garland , Agnes Macphail (UFO), Humphrey Mitchell , Abraham Albert Heaps , Angus MacInnis , and Labour Party MP J. S. Woodsworth . Founding groups included

800-452: Was a Canadian politician and trade unionist . A land surveyor employed with Hamilton Hydro, Mitchell was active with the union movement in the city. Upon the death of Hamilton East 's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), George Septimus Rennie in 1931, Mitchell was approached to run in the by-election to fill the seat as a Labour candidate. Hamilton East was a strong working class riding that had elected Labour candidates to

832-461: Was a significant influence on the CCF. At its founding convention in 1932 in Calgary, the party settled on the name "Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Farmer-Labour-Socialist)" and selected J. S. Woodsworth as party leader. Woodsworth had been an Independent Labour Party MP since 1921 and a member of the Ginger Group of MPs. The party's 1933 convention, held in Regina, Saskatchewan , adopted

864-454: Was also a title the leader held, as both Woodsworth and Coldwell held the title when they held seats in the House of Commons. In 1958, after Coldwell lost his seat, the position of national chairman was merged formally into the president's title and was held by David Lewis. The national secretary was a staff position (initially part-time, and then full-time beginning 1938) which was responsible for

896-542: Was divided with the outbreak of World War II : Woodsworth was a pacifist , while many party members supported the Canadian war effort. Woodsworth had a physically debilitating stroke in May 1940 and could no longer perform his duties as leader. In October, Woodsworth wrote a letter to the 1940 CCF convention, in essence asking to retire from the leadership. Instead, the delegates created the new position of Honorary President, abolished

928-458: Was established in Toronto for that purpose. The party won a critical York South by-election on 8 February 1942, and in the process prevented the Conservative leader, former Prime Minister Arthur Meighen , from entering the House of Commons. In the 1945 election , 28 CCF MPs were elected, and the party won 15.6% of the vote. In the 1949 election , 13 CCF candidates were elected. This

960-599: Was followed by 23 elected in the 1953 election and a disappointing eight elected in the 1958 election. (In that election the party took almost ten percent of the vote so was due about 26 MPs proportionally.) The party had its greatest success in provincial politics. In 1943, the Ontario CCF became the official opposition in that province. In 1944 , the Alberta CCF took almost a quarter of all votes cast but due to lack of PR, were held to winning just two seats. In 1944,

992-584: Was founded on May 26, 1932, when the Ginger Group MPs and LSR members met in William Irvine's office, the unofficial caucus meeting room for the Ginger Group, and went about forming the basis of the new party. J. S. Woodsworth was unanimously appointed the temporary leader until they could hold a founding convention. The temporary name for the new party was the Commonwealth Party. The Social Gospel

Regina Manifesto - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-438: Was the equivalent of party president in most Canadian political parties and was sometimes referred to as such, in that it was largely an organizational role. In the case of the CCF, the national chairman oversaw the party's national council and chaired its meetings. Following an initial period in which Woodsworth held both roles, it was usually distinct from and secondary to the position of party leader. National president originally

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