David Lewis (politician)

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David Lewis , CC (birth name: Dawid Losz ) (born June 23, 1909 in Swislatsch , Minsk Governorate , Russian Empire ; † May 23, 1981 in Ottawa , Ontario , Canada ) was a Canadian politician .

biography

Promotion to chairman of the NDP

Lewis came from a Polish family in what is now Belarus who immigrated to Canada in 1921 . He began his political activities at an early stage and in 1932 was one of the co-founders of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a socialist political party, of which he was secretary between 1937 and 1950. In 1940, 1943, 1945 and 1949 he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate of the CCF for a seat in the House of Commons. Between 1954 and 1961 he was President of the CCF.

When the CCF merged with the Canadian Labor Congress to form the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961 , he was elected Deputy Federal Chairman at the founding party convention.

In 1962 he was first elected to the House of Commons , where he represented the constituency of York South . In the general election in 1963, however, he was one of the two members of the NDP who could not defend their mandate. In 1965 he succeeded in re-entering the lower house as a member of the parliament and in the 1968 and 1972 elections he was able to successfully defend his constituency.

On April 24, 1971, he was elected to succeed Tommy Douglas as chairman of the NDP. His greatest success was the election campaign in the 1972 general election against the "United Welfare Bums" (Corporate Welfare Bums) who received concessions and government aid. With 31 mandates in the lower house, the NDP achieved its strongest result to date and at the same time played the role of tipping the scales . Under his leadership, the NDP supported the liberal minority government of Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1974 , even if the parties never formed an official coalition. Together they passed several reforms in social law such as funding for veterans and seniors, and founded the state-owned petroleum company Petro-Canada . In 1974 the NDP withdrew from this cooperation. When the NDP had to surrender 15 of its 31 seats in the general election shortly afterwards, Lewis also lost his seat in the lower house and declared his withdrawal from political life. On July 7, 1975, Ed Broadbent succeeded him as federal chairman of the NDP.

In 1980 he became the first ever by the Canadian Labor Congress award for outstanding achievements for humanity excellent (Award for Outstanding Service to Humanity).

family

His father Moishe Losz was an active member of the General Jewish Workers' Union . His daughter Nina Lewis-Libeskind is the wife and partner of the architect Daniel Libeskind . His son Stephen Henry Lewis is also an NDP politician and diplomat. His grandson Avi Lewis, the son of Stephen Henry Lewis, a documentary filmmaker and journalist who is married to the writer and globalization critic Naomi Klein . His other son Michael Lewis and his daughter Janet Solberg are also leading politicians in the NDP.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephen Henry Lewis ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved March 14, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Lewis, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Losz, Dawid (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Svislatsch (Minsk Governorate) , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 1981
Place of death Ottawa , Ontario , Canada