Dick Proctor (born February 12, 1941 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

political activist, former New Democratic Party (NDP)

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

, and a former journalist.

Career

Politics

Proctor has been active with the NDP in a number of capacities since the 1970s. In the early part of that decade, he was communications director for

Ontario NDP The Ontario New Democratic Party (french: link=no, Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Ontario; abbr. ONDP or NDP) is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following th ...

leader Stephen Lewis. He was cabinet press secretary to then-

Premier of Saskatchewan The premier of Saskatchewan is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The current premier of Saskatchewan is Scott Moe, who was sworn in as premier on February 2, 2018, after winning the 2018 Saskatc ...

Allan Blakeney Allan Emrys Blakeney (September 7, 1925April 16, 2011) was the tenth premier of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982, and leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP). Early life and career Born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney took his ...

during the 1978 and 1982 provincial election campaigns. He was executive assistant to federal NDP leader

Ed Broadbent John Edward "Ed" Broadbent (born March 21, 1936) is a Canadian social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the Broadbent Institute, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 200 ...

in the intervening period. In the mid-1980s, Proctor worked as the research director for the

National Union of Provincial Government Employees The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is a Canadian trade union. Taken in total it is the second largest union in Canada. Most of its 425,000 members work in the provincial public service sector. There is also a large and gr ...

and then as the project coordinator of the Canadian Labour Congress in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. He returned to the NDP in 1989 to serve as the party's federal secretary. He then served as provincial secretary for the

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It currently forms the official opposition, but has been a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s. The p ...

from 1993 to 1996.

Sports writer

He also worked as a journalist for the '' Edmonton Journal'' and ''

Toronto Telegram ''The Toronto Evening Telegram'' was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at the federal and the provincial levels. The paper competed w ...

'' in the 1960s and 1970s, and as sportswriter for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' in the 1970s. Moonlighting for ''The Hockey News'' under the pseudonym "Mike Gamble", he wrote a profile of 16-year-old junior hockey player

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

, and may have been the first person to use the phrase "The Great Gretzky".

Tenure in Parliament

Proctor entered electoral politics when he won a seat in the 1997 federal election representing the

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

riding of Palliser. He was re-elected in the 2000 election and served as NDP caucus chair from 2000 until he lost his seat in the 2004 federal election by 124 votes. From 2004 to 2005, he served as chief of staff to NDP leader

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian academic and politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on To ...

. He retired to

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

in 2005. As an MP, Proctor forced the resignation of Solicitor-General Andy Scott in 1998 when, on a flight from Ottawa to

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

, he overheard an indiscreet conversation between Scott and a political ally discussing the inquiry into the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

's handling of protesters at the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

meeting. According to Proctor, Scott predicted the outcome of the inquiry thus creating the impression that the judicial inquiry's findings had been predetermined.

Retirement

Proctor returned from retirement in October 2008 to act as Interim Federal Secretary for the NDP federal office. The vacancy he is filling was left by Éric Hébert-Daly, who resigned immediately following the 2008 campaign.

Sources

Profile: Dick Proctor
from ''The Commonwealth'', accessed December 26, 2005. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, Dick 1941 births Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MPs Politicians from Toronto Canadian political consultants 21st-century Canadian politicians