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Douglas Fisher nominates Hazen Argue

Broadcast Date: Aug. 2, 1961

Ontario Member of Parliament Douglas Fisher is a legend among his Canadian Commonwealth Federation colleagues. In the CCF, he's the David who slayed a Liberal Goliath, ousting prominent Liberal C.D. Howe from his riding in 1957. Fisher hopes some of that pluck will inspire his colleagues in 1961. Chief among them is Hazen Argue, the man Fisher hopes will lead his party out of the wilderness. In this nomination speech, he praises Argue's decency, his tenacity and his broad knowledge of Canada's most pressing concerns.

Douglas Fisher nominates Hazen Argue

• Born in Sioux Lookout, Ont., in 1919, Douglas Fisher was a Second World War veteran and English teacher. In the 1957 federal election he was the Canadian Commonwealth Federation candidate in Port Arthur, Ont. His opponent, Liberal C.D. Howe, had held the seat for 22 years and was a prominent cabinet minister who was nicknamed "The Minister of Everything" during the war. In a stunning upset, Fisher unseated Howe by a margin of 12,228 votes to 10,813.

• Hazen Argue was a Saskatchewan CCF politician first elected to Parliament in 1945. He became leader of the rebuilding party after John Diefenbaker's huge 1958 majority victory. When the party was relaunched as the New Democratic Party, Argue lost to Tommy Douglas and later joined the Liberals. They appointed him as a senator in 1966.

Douglas Fisher nominates Hazen Argue

Medium: Radio

Program: CBC Tuesday Night

Broadcast Date: Aug. 2, 1961

Guest(s): Douglas Fisher

Resource:

Duration: 5:26

Last updated:
Sept. 18, 2009