Patrick Michael Callaghan (1927 – January 5, 2009) was a politician in New Brunswick, Canada who was briefly leader of the New Democratic Party of New Brunswick. Callaghan was born in Scotland and raised in Dunbarton and the Red Clydeside area of Scotland which was known for its radicalism. As a youth he joined the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

followed by the Labour Party. In 1954, he emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia and then moved to New Brunswick where he settled in Fredericton, established a window cleaning business, and joined the province's

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 ...

which became the New Democratic Party in 1962. He was a candidate for the federal NDP in 1965 and 1968. In 1970, he was approached by a group of young radical socialists active at the University of New Brunswick and established a riding association in York—Sunbury with himself as president. The group soon became involved with the Ontario-based Waffle movement, a left wing socialist faction within the NDP and helped found the New Brunswick chapter of

the Waffle The Waffle (also known as the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada) was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little elect ...

in late 1970. The Waffle became a dominant force in the New Brunswick NDP in 1971 and Callaghan announced his intention to seek the party's leadership. Due to conflicts between Wafflers and anti-Wafflers over the legitimacy of the party's fall convention at which the New Brunswick Waffle manifesto had been approved, the party split into two, on October 16, 1971, with one faction led by Callaghan and a second, non-Waffle faction led by

J. Albert Richardson J. Albert Richardson (c. 1938 – April 2, 2002) was a trade unionist and politician who was leader of the New Brunswick New Democratic Party from 1970 until 1976 save for a one-month interruption in late 1971. A woods contractor in the Miramich ...

with both men claiming to be NDP leader. The federal NDP intervened on November 12, 1971 by suspending the New Brunswick NDP and calling a special convention for November 21 to resolve the dispute. The Wafflers were demoralized by this and Callaghan spoke of leaving the NDP and reviving the CCF. Callaghan and many other Wafflers did not attend the special convention which saw the re-election of J. Albert Richardson as party leader. The Waffle declined and was inactive by the end of the year.Entryism in Theory, in Practice, and in Crisis: The Trotskyist Experience in New Brunswick, 1969-1973
by Patrick Webber

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, Pat 1927 births 2009 deaths New Brunswick New Democratic Party leaders New Brunswick candidates for Member of Parliament