William Forman Waye (August 18, 1886 – January 4, 1967), normally referred to simply as Forman Waye, was a merchant,

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. He represented

Cape Breton County Cape Breton County is one of eighteen counties in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located on Cape Breton Island. From 1879 to 1995, the area of the county excluded from towns and cities was incorporated as the Municipality of th ...

in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1920 to 1925 as an

Independent Labour An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

member. He was born in

Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia Sydney Mines (Scottish Gaelic: ''Mèinnean Shidni'') is a community and former town in Canada's Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Founded in 1784 and incorporated as a town in 1889, Sydney Mines has a rich history in coal producti ...

, the son of William Waye and Mary Ross. Waye married Catherine McDonald. He was

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

for the United Farmers-Labour coalition which formed the official opposition in the provincial assembly. Waye was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1925. His radicalism made it hard for him to get work as a machinist, as he was

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

ed by employers. He sold

tombstones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, ...

and did other odd work, until he was hired in 1938 as a staff worker for the

Steel Workers Organizing Committee The Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was one of two precursor trade union, labor organizations to the United Steelworkers. It was formed by the CIO (Committee for Industrial Organization) on June 7, 1936. It disbanded in 1942 to become the ...

, on the condition that he leave the

Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada (french: Parti communiste du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality. Although it does not currently have any parliamentary representation, the party's can ...

and join the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

.MacEachern, George (David Frank; Don MacGillivray, eds.) ''George MacEachern, an autobiography: the story of a Cape Breton labour radical''. Sydney, N.S.: University College of Cape Breton Press, 1987; p. 85

References

Sources

* ''A Directory of the Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758-1958'', Public Archives of Nova Scotia (1958)

External links

Fraser, Dawn. "To Forman Waye" in ''Echoes From Labor’s Wars: The Expanded Edition'' Cape Breton: Breton Books, 1992.
1880s births 1967 deaths Machinists Nova Scotia Independent MLAs {{NovaScotia-MLA-stub