John Edward "Ed" Broadbent (born March 21, 1936) is a Canadian
social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the
Broadbent Institute
Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank founded by Ed Broadbent.
History
Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank. It was founded by Ed Broadbent, the leader of the ...
, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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from 1975 to 1989. In the
2004 federal election, he returned to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
for an additional term as the
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 of ...
for
Ottawa Centre
Ottawa Centre (french: Ottawa-Centre) is an urban federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. While the riding's boundaries (mainly to the south and west as the north a ...
.
Early life and career
Broadbent was born in
Oshawa,
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 Ca ...
, the son of Percy, who worked at General Motors, and Mary (Welsh) Broadbent, a homemaker.
In 1961, he married Yvonne Yamaoka, a
Japanese-Canadian
are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them livin ...
town planner whose family had been
interned by the federal government in World War II. They divorced in 1967. On September 22, 1988, when
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...
's government apologized for the internment, Broadbent brought up Yamaoka's experiences during his remarks in the House of Commons.
In 1971, he married a young
Franco-Ontarian widow, Lucille Munroe. Munroe died of cancer on November 17, 2006, at the age of 71.
Broadbent married the
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
historian and political theorist
Ellen Meiksins Wood
Ellen Meiksins Wood (April 12, 1942 January 14, 2016) was an American-Canadian Marxist political theorist and historian.
Biography
Wood was born in New York City on April 12, 1942, as Ellen Meiksins one year after her parents, Latvian Jews a ...
, an old friend, in 2014. She died in 2016, at the age of 73.
Broadbent received a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
(PhD) degree in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
in 1966, with a thesis titled "The Good Society of
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
". He is currently a fellow in the School of Policy Studies at
Queen's University, Canada
Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and owns Herstmonceux Castle in East Sus ...
.
Political career
Broadbent was a university professor when he won an election to the
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicam ...
in the riding of
Oshawa—Whitby during the
1968 general election. He defeated a former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister,
Michael Starr, by 15 votes. Broadbent ran for the leadership of the party but lost to
David Lewis at the
1971 leadership convention. He won the
1975 leadership election to succeed Lewis and led the party through four elections.
Leader of the NDP (1975–1989)
In his early years as leader of the party, Broadbent was criticized for his long and complex speeches on industrial organization, but he came to be known as an honest and charismatic politician in person. He was one of the first Canadian politicians to stage a large number of political events in the workplace.
1984 election
The NDP finished with 30 seats in the
1984 federal election, just ten behind the
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...
, led by
John Turner
John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...
. Several polls later showed that Broadbent was the most popular party leader in Canada. Broadbent was the first leader who ever took the NDP to first place in public opinion polling, and some pundits felt that the NDP could supplant Turner's Liberals as the primary opposition to the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003.
From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...
of
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...
.
1988 election
Nonetheless, Broadbent was not successful in translating this into an election victory in the
1988 federal election since the Liberals reaped most of the benefits from opposing the
Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. However, the NDP won 43 seats, a record unchallenged until the
2011 federal election, when the NDP won 103 seats and
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 ...
became the leader of the opposition.
On the international front,
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...
was president of the
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...
, and Broadbent served as a vice-president from 1979 to 1989.
Broadbent stepped down after 14 and a half years as leader of the federal NDP at the
1989 Winnipeg Convention, when he was succeeded by
Audrey McLaughlin
Audrey Marlene McLaughlin (née Brown; born November 8, 1936) is a Canadian politician and former leader of the New Democratic Party from 1989 to 1995. She was the first female leader of a political party with representation in the House of Co ...
.
Later life
In the decade following Broadbent's retirement from politics, the federal NDP declined in popularity. The party would not come close to the popularity that it had enjoyed under Broadbent until Jack Layton took over the leadership in 2003.
Broadbent was director of the
from 1990 to 1996. In 1993, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
and was promoted to Companion in 2001.
Broadbent spent a year as Fellow at All Souls College,
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, in 1996–1997.
At Layton's invitation, he returned to politics in 2004. With the aid of a humorous and popular video clip, he successfully ran for Parliament in the riding of
Ottawa Centre
Ottawa Centre (french: Ottawa-Centre) is an urban federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. While the riding's boundaries (mainly to the south and west as the north a ...
, where he now lives. He defeated the Liberal candidate Richard Mahoney, a close ally of
Canadian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
The son o ...
.
![Ed Broadbent and Jack Layton at Toronto Rally](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Ed_Broadbent_and_Jack_Layton_at_Toronto_Rally.jpg)
In the NDP
shadow cabinet, Broadbent was Critic for Democracy: Parliamentary & Electoral Reform, Corporate Accountability as well as Child Poverty.
On May 4, 2005, he announced that he would not seek re-election in the
2006 federal election so that he could spend time with his wife, Lucille, who was suffering from
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. She died on November 17, 2006.
Broadbent's third wife, Ellen Meiksins Wood, whom he married in 2014, died of cancer at the couple's Ottawa home at 73 in January, 2016. She was a noted political theorist and socialist historian, author of a number of books and a professor at York University for three decades.
In November 2008, Broadbent and former Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien came out of retirement to help to negotiate
a formal coalition agreement between the Liberals and the New Democratic Party, which would be supported by the
Bloc Québécois. The coalition was formed in a bid to replace the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government of Prime Minister
Stephen Harper and would have been the first in Canada since
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. However, the coalition talks died down after Governor General
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...
prorogued parliament in December 2008 at Harper's request.
Broadbent has voiced his support for the
, an organization that advocates for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
On June 17, 2011, he announced the creation of the
Broadbent Institute
Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank founded by Ed Broadbent.
History
Broadbent Institute is a Canadian progressive and social democratic think tank. It was founded by Ed Broadbent, the leader of the ...
to explore social-democratic policy and ideas. It provides a vehicle for social-democratic and progressive academics, provides education, and trains activists. It is independent of the New Democratic Party.
On September 12, 2011, he endorsed
Brian Topp in his unsuccessful campaign during the
2012 leadership election.
Archives
There is an Ed Broadbent
fonds
In archival science, a fonds is a group of documents that share the same origin and that have occurred naturally as an outgrowth of the daily workings of an agency, individual, or organization. An example of a fonds could be the writings of a poe ...
at
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...
.
Archival reference number is R5828.
References
External links
How'd They Vote?: Ed Broadbent's voting history and quotes*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadbent, Ed
1936 births
Canadian aviators
Canadian political scientists
Canadian people of Irish descent
Companions of the Order of Canada
Living people
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
NDP and CCF leaders
New Democratic Party MPs
People from Oshawa
Politicians from Ottawa
Queen's University at Kingston faculty
Royal Canadian Air Force personnel
Trinity College (Canada) alumni
University of Toronto alumni
21st-century Canadian legislators
20th-century Canadian legislators