Thursday, January 1, 1970

At the CCF's final convention banquet - 1960

We must think in new terms to meet the conditions and the problems of the times in which we live. I’m delighted to see the number of young people here tonight. There is little use in you and me, and those of us who attended the 1933 convention, telling them about the depression and the situation of that time. Might as well tell them about the Napoleonic Wars. What they want to know is what have you to offer for the problems of today and for the world in which they live.
Let me remind you that Canadian society has changed very remarkably since 1933. When we met in this city, we were in the depths of a depression. A completely unplanned, laissez-faire capitalism had completely failed to meet an economic crisis. We had a million unemployed. The people riding the rails. We had farmers without enough to eat, and livestock dying for lack of feed. We had an abundance of almost all the things we needed for a good life, yet people hungry, who Roosevelt said ill-fed, ill-housed and ill-clad.

That was the situation in which we met at that time. But we must face the fact that that situation has changed radically. I say this because we must recognize that the situation has changed. No longer unplanned, laissez-faire capitalism. No longer a society which says every man for himself and the devil take the hind part. But today a measure of managed capitalism, with built-in, chained-in techniques by which they can prevent major economic depression and runaway booms with a built-in welfare state, either large or small, that can be expanded according to the needs of purchasing power. That we face today a different situation than what our forefathers faced.

Therefore we have to, like socialist parties all over the world, ask ourselves some very searching questions. Now I’m asking you to think about them seriously. This is not a time for demagoguery; this is not a time for beating the drum. This is a time for serious soul-searching.
With this changed situation in a quarter of a century, with a managed capitalism and a partial welfare state (and in a few years maybe a complete welfare state), is a socialist party any longer necessary? Have we any reason for existence? Have all the battles been won? Are there no mountains left to conquer? This we have to ask ourselves.

So I say to you that this affluent society, that they need a socialist party because in my opinion democratic socialism is still man’s best hope. I think that people produce better, people do better, people work better when they are participating through free courts, free exchange of opinion, a free press, free right to organize, free trade unions, free co-operators, free political parties. That out of that kind of participation, out of the ferment of discussion, out of the conflict of ideas, out of the exchanges of points of view we will merge with a better society, not a poorer one.

That is why, if we are to have socialism in the world, it must be democratic socialism. Because planning is not an end in itself, nationalization is not an end in itself. They’re simply parts of a democratic process by which people want to exercise some control over their own economic (lives).

To the Canadian Labour Congress convention - 1968

The second thing that needs to be adapted, to change, is the role of the trade union movement. For more than half a century the role of the trade union movement in this country has been to improve the lot of the workers. To get better wages, better working conditions, better hours. To establish the right of collective bargaining and to get better agreements.

The workers of this country, whether they’re in the trade union movement or not, are deeply indebted to you for what you have done to improve the living standards of the people who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. That past still has to be continued. But I’m here this afternoon to suggest that there is another role in which the trade union movement must play its part. And that is a political role.

We have now reached a time in our history when the trade union movement cannot afford to be unconcerned about who sits in the lawmaking bodies of our land. Why? Because with the stroke of a pen, those who have their hands on the levers of power can wipe out in a few days all the gains that you’ve made at the bargaining table and on the picket line.

On democracy and carrying out the people's mandate - 1945

Big business and the federal government were bitterly opposed to the CCF's Farm Security Act, the centrepiece of Tommy's election platform the year before. With Ottawa threatening to disallow the legislation, Tommy fought back with a stirring call for government that serves the interests of people, not wealth:

Let me here issue a word of warning to those that are moving Heaven and Earth to have this legislation disallowed. I want to tell them that they are not dealing in this case with a government of tired old men, who are merely holding onto power for the spoils of office, or with the hope of finding a final resting place in the senate. They’re dealing with a government fresh from the people, with a mandate to carry out the people’s wishes. Those wishes will be carried out. If these vested interests succeed in persuading the federal government to disallow this legislation, we still have other resources at our disposal. And we will not hesitate to use them.
We were elected to protect the homes and the security of our people. We will use every legitimate method which we possess to attain that end. These governments who want the present legislation destroyed may well find that what will take its place will be even less palatable than that to which they now object. If they insist upon this arbitrary and highhanded method, they may find that what they get will be even worse than what they have now.

My object in speaking to you tonight is to let you know that the government is not prepared to retreat one single inch. The one thing we must know however is that the people of this province are behind us in our determination to fight this invasion of our democratic right by the financial barons.

The legislation in question has not yet been disallowed. We still have three weeks. Three weeks in which to write to your members of Parliament, three weeks in which to send resolutions from municipal council, city council, and various farmer, labour and businessmen’s organizations. We have three weeks in which to let the Federal Government know that the people of Saskatchewan will not take lying down the despotic interference of democratic government.

This is no time for fair-weather friends and sunshine soldiers. This is a time for men and women of all political parties, races and creeds to stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of their democratic rights, to elect governments to do their will without interference from any corporation, no matter how large or how powerful.

In the past few years a conviction has been growing that governments are always on the side of concentrated wealth and against the common man. This belief has not been without some foundation. The time has come for Saskatchewan to express itself, vigorously and vehemently, against such indignation of democracy. We are prepared to lead that fight, if you are prepared to follow us into battle.

The Saskatchewan Government was elected by the people of this province. We were not elected to protect the interests of special privilege. We were not elected to become puppets of those who sit in high places and pull the strings. We were elected to give our people security in their homes, to give them reliable protection in their dealings with powerful corporations, and we were elected to see to it that those same corporations should make some financial contribution to a higher standard of social services.

Our objectives have not changed. We are still determined to do the things we were elected to do. We are neither surprised nor dismayed by the attempts of these powerful interests to resist progressive change. The fight to preserve democracy across the sea has just finished – the fight to make democracy a reality at home is just beginning.