Douglas speeches
Tommy Douglas, in his political speeches, often told a story about a couple who had triplets. A friend came to see the babies and asked their names.
“We’re calling them Liberal, Conservative and CCF,” was the response. The friend picked up one of the babies. “This must be the one you’ve named CCF,” she said. “Why, that’s right,” exclaimed the proud parent. “How did you know?”
“This one’s done something.”
My last encounter with Douglas was the year before he died. He’d come to Regina to receive the Order of Saskatchewan. Those being honored were expected to wear formal dress and so the former premier was dolled up in a rented tuxedo.
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He pulled a droll face and told me: “The only clothes I have on that are my own are my shorts and socks.”
Whatever your views of the Douglas politics there’s no denying he was one of the more talented orators we have seen in Western Canada.
You went away from a Douglas speech with the same inspired feeling one might get from a particularly good sermon.
A Regina journalist for many years, Chris Higginbotham, did something about retaining the Douglas wit for future generations. He arranged with Tommy for taping sessions, so a number of the classic speeches are preserved in the Saskatchewan Archives.
And so if you want to hear Tommy Douglas in his flight of oratory about “the rank is just the guinea stamp,” or “that man to man the world o’er shall brothers be for a’ that,” or “I’ll lay me down and bleed a while, and then I’ll rise and fight again,” it is all there.
