July 10 1944




July 10 marks the day 77 years ago when Tommy Douglas was sworn in as the Premiere of Saskatchewan and the first leader of a Social Democratic government in North America. Tommy went on to make radical changes for the betterment of his province and for the rest of Canada. It is fitting on this anniversary to take a few minutes to understand what Social Democracy means and look at where it has been applied.

The Wikipedia article is heavy reading but it is worth noting what Social Democracy is not. Social Democracy is not Socialism and certainly not the Oligarchical pretenders bred from Stalinism and Maoism. Social Democrats place democracy first in a bid for social justice, social welfare and a regulated, fair economy. Countries that are often held forth as good examples of governance, countries that are reported by the UN to be the happiest are concentrated in social democrat states.

This week, take a few minutes to learn more about Tommy Douglas at the DCF website. Mouseland is Tommy’s parable about the dangers of allowing the rich to hold too much political power. Tommy was a great orator and you can read some of his great speeches on the DCF website including his speech on the future of medicare in 1982 where he called for the expansion of medicare to include pharmacare and denticare.

After watching Mouseland, who do you identify with?


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#miltonontario #NDP #ondp #Mouseland #socialdemocracy #history #historyfacts

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