Social Democrats of the North: Agnes Macphail
Rather than treating feminism and social democracy as separate projects, Agnes Macphail understood both as essential to building a more democratic and equal society.
Rather than treating feminism and social democracy as separate projects, Agnes Macphail understood both as essential to building a more democratic and equal society.

This Scottish-born preacher turned politician helped lay the foundation for early social democratic electoral success in Alberta and across Canada.

A pioneer of Canadian prairie socialism, E.A. Partridge was a radical farmer who organized Saskatchewan grain growers in the face of rampant price fixing.

Amidst working-class poverty and the upheaval around the First World War, Olivar Asselin emerged as one of Montreal’s most famous journalists who advocated for Quebec’s working poor.

With Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government still a few seats short of a majority government, working-class Canadians should start asking NDP leadership candidates how they would wield the balance of power.

Reflecting on the ONDP government led by Bob Rae from 1990 to 1995, it is clear that the success of today’s ONDP depends on its ability to deliver on substantive reforms that materially benefit Ontario’s diverse working-class.

Ed Broadbent and his co-authors spoke at the Toronto Reference Library to launch their new book on Canadian social democracy.

To be humane, societies must be democratic — and, to be democratic, every person must be afforded the economic and social rights necessary for their individual flourishing.

“Coming back to the commitment by the state, instead, I say, we need an expansion of the role of the state through decommodification. This will lead to the real freedom of more citizens, in a way that simple political and civil rights cannot.”


