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

William Irvine’s life and career reflects the power of persistence in struggles. Born to a working-class familyin the Shetland Islands, Irvine immigrated to Canada to lead a Unitarian church congregation in Alberta. After arriving in Calgary in 1916, he was swept up by the social gospel movement of the time. He ran for political office with the Labour Party in Alberta, and then as a candidate for the United Farmers of Alberta, before being elected as an MP in 1921 and helping to found the CCF by 1932. He also worked to establish progressive newspapers in Calgary and became an social democratic leader in Parliament.

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Social Democrats of the North: Canadian Visions for Justice & Equality from Confederation to the Quiet Revolution is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal by Broadbent Research Fellow and Editorial Committee Member Dave McGrane.

Dave McGrane, Professor of Political Science at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, explores the life, times, and ideas of Canada’s most influential social democrats. From Confederation at 1867, to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, discover the people who shaped social democracy in Canada, the movements that fought for the working-class, and the legacies they’ve left for the wellbeing of all Canadians. There are lessons for activists, and forgotten struggles that apply to today’s wins. After all, the best teacher for a better world tomorrow, is the past.

Social Democrats of the North is a Perspectives Journal Podcast Series, published by the Broadbent Institute.

Host & Episode Research – Dave McGrane

Producer – Clement Nocos

Production Assistant – Jack McClelland

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Theme music note

The tune of US folk song “John Brown’s Body” is used extensively for militant labour movements and group marching, referencing US abolitionist John Brown. The tune has evolved into a number of variations, including ‘The March of the Workers’ in the Labor Reform Songster (1892) by Ontario labour leader Phillips Thompson (Social Democrats of the North Episode 2).

Battle Hymn of the Republic medley by Marisa Anderson is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Support the show

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. The founder of the 'Grain Growers' Grain Company' cooperative and publisher of the Grain Growers' Guide, Partridge was a major player in the history of Canadian social democracy. Learn about his "Partridge plan" and the social democratic roots of western Canadian alienation on this episode of Social Democrats of the North.

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Social Democrats of the North: Canadian Visions for Justice & Equality from Confederation to the Quiet Revolution is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal by Broadbent Research Fellow and Editorial Committee Member Dave McGrane.

Dave McGrane, Professor of Political Science at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, explores the life, times, and ideas of Canada’s most influential social democrats. From Confederation at 1867, to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, discover the people who shaped social democracy in Canada, the movements that fought for the working-class, and the legacies they’ve left for the wellbeing of all Canadians. There are lessons for activists, and forgotten struggles that apply to today’s wins. After all, the best teacher for a better world tomorrow, is the past.

Social Democrats of the North is a Perspectives Journal Podcast Series, published by the Broadbent Institute.

Host & Episode Research – Dave McGrane

Producer – Clement Nocos

Production Assistant – Jack McClelland

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Theme music note

The tune of US folk song “John Brown’s Body” is used extensively for militant labour movements and group marching, referencing US abolitionist John Brown. The tune has evolved into a number of variations, including ‘The March of the Workers’ in the Labor Reform Songster (1892) by Ontario labour leader Phillips Thompson (Social Democrats of the North Episode 2).

Battle Hymn of the Republic medley by Marisa Anderson is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Support the show

One of the most iconic socialists in Canadian history, most on the Canadian left may likely identify J.S. Woodsworth as Canada's first social democrat. Woodsworth was an organizer of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike and the first leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, founded in 1932. This episode of Social Democrats of the North reflects on the Social Gospel that saw Jesus as a radical socialist, the farmers and labour movements that struggled for power over the Canadian Prairies, and their expansion into a national social democratic movement.

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Social Democrats of the North: Canadian Visions for Justice & Equality from Confederation to the Quiet Revolution is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal by Broadbent Research Fellow and Editorial Committee Member Dave McGrane.

Dave McGrane, Professor of Political Science at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, explores the life, times, and ideas of Canada’s most influential social democrats. From Confederation at 1867, to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, discover the people who shaped social democracy in Canada, the movements that fought for the working-class, and the legacies they’ve left for the wellbeing of all Canadians. There are lessons for activists, and forgotten struggles that apply to today’s wins. After all, the best teacher for a better world tomorrow, is the past.

Social Democrats of the North is a Perspectives Journal Podcast Series, published by the Broadbent Institute.

Host & Episode Research – Dave McGrane

Producer – Clement Nocos

Production Assistant – Jack McClelland

--

Theme music note

The tune of US folk song “John Brown’s Body” is used extensively for militant labour movements and group marching, referencing US abolitionist John Brown. The tune has evolved into a number of variations, including ‘The March of the Workers’ in the Labor Reform Songster (1892) by Ontario labour leader Phillips Thompson (Social Democrats of the North Episode 2).

Battle Hymn of the Republic medley by Marisa Anderson is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Support the show

The new book by Peggy Nash & Julie White tells the untold stories of dozens of women leaders in the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union.

In November 2025, Between the Lines books published Women United: Stories of Women’s Struggles for Equality in the Canadian Auto Workers Union by Peggy Nash and Julie White. The co-authors were interviewed by Tricia Wilson, Director of Equity and Racial Justice at Unifor, at their November 13 book launch in Toronto.

About Women United:

Based on the firsthand stories of dozens of women leaders in the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), Women United examines what workplaces were like for women, how they became involved in the union, and the challenges women faced, sometimes at great personal cost. From struggles for representation in their union to their fight for affirmative action and childcare, and work against gender-based violence and harassment, Peggy Nash and Julie White make an important contribution to feminist, labour, and social history.

Order your copy from Between the Lines books.

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What was the place of feminism in early Canadian social democracy? This episode looks at one of the first feminist social democrats in Canadian history: Francis Marion Beynon. Her work as journalist in Winnipeg in the early 1900s was critical for pointing out how exploitation wasn’t just about workers and bosses — it was also about the way that women were being treated by their husbands at home.

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Social Democrats of the North: Canadian Visions for Justice & Equality from Confederation to the Quiet Revolution is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal by Broadbent Research Fellow and Editorial Committee Member Dave McGrane.

Dave McGrane, Professor of Political Science at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, explores the life, times, and ideas of Canada’s most influential social democrats. From Confederation at 1867, to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, discover the people who shaped social democracy in Canada, the movements that fought for the working-class, and the legacies they’ve left for the wellbeing of all Canadians. There are lessons for activists, and forgotten struggles that apply to today’s wins. After all, the best teacher for a better world tomorrow, is the past.

Social Democrats of the North is a Perspectives Journal Podcast Series, published by the Broadbent Institute.

Host & Episode Research – Dave McGrane

Producer – Clement Nocos

Production Assistant – Jack McClelland

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Theme music note

The tune of US folk song “John Brown’s Body” is used extensively for militant labour movements and group marching, referencing US abolitionist John Brown. The tune has evolved into a number of variations, including ‘The March of the Workers’ in the Labor Reform Songster (1892) by Ontario labour leader Phillips Thompson (Social Democrats of the North Episode 2).

Battle Hymn of the Republic medley by Marisa Anderson is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Support the show

In the early 20th century, Montreal was a hotbed of radical thinking on working-class politics and Quebec’s place in Canada. 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. Named, in-part, after Latin American revolutionary Simon Bolivar, Asselin foray into the military was more misguided than his namesake's campaigns for liberation, but still established himself as a social democratic force in Quebec's nationalist politics.

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Social Democrats of the North: Canadian Visions for Justice & Equality from Confederation to the Quiet Revolution is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal by Broadbent Research Fellow and Editorial Committee Member Dave McGrane.

Dave McGrane, Professor of Political Science at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, explores the life, times, and ideas of Canada’s most influential social democrats. From Confederation at 1867, to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, discover the people who shaped social democracy in Canada, the movements that fought for the working-class, and the legacies they’ve left for the wellbeing of all Canadians. There are lessons for activists, and forgotten struggles that apply to today’s wins. After all, the best teacher for a better world tomorrow, is the past.

Social Democrats of the North is a Perspectives Journal Podcast Series, published by the Broadbent Institute.

Host & Episode Research – Dave McGrane

Producer – Clement Nocos

Production Assistant – Jack McClelland

--

Theme music note

The tune of US folk song “John Brown’s Body” is used extensively for militant labour movements and group marching, referencing US abolitionist John Brown. The tune has evolved into a number of variations, including ‘The March of the Workers’ in the Labor Reform Songster (1892) by Ontario labour leader Phillips Thompson (Social Democrats of the North Episode 2).

Battle Hymn of the Republic medley by Marisa Anderson is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Support the show

Support the show

The 350 Canada Campaigns Manager collaborated with climate, labour, Indigenous, and social justice movements to draw the line against fossil fuel expansion.

On September 20, 2025, thousands of Canadians took to the streets uniting climate justice, migrant justice, economic justice, Indigenous rights, and anti-war movements, calling for government action. Helping coordinate the more than 70 community demonstrations across Canada was Atiya Jaffar, National Campaigns Manager at 350 Canada. Activists from interconnected movements refused to stand by and accept the status quo.

On this episode of Activists Make History, host Peggy Nash talks to Jaffar about building cross-movement solidarity to strengthen the fight for a green future.

Tune into Activists Make History to hear how bold, community-rooted activism can make a real difference. This series has been made possible with the generous support of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union.

Photo credits: Sarah Hassanein and Anna Kuelken

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The prolific satirist-turned-labour-leader penned the first full account of working-class struggles in 19th century Canada.

Shortly after Confederation, Canadian cities were teeming with impoverished workers and rapid industrialization. While socialist movements were taking shape across Europe, Phillips Thompson became a leading voice for Canadian labour in Southwestern Ontario. Writing sharp political satire under the pen name “Jimuel Briggs,” Thompson gained recognition as one of Canada’s earliest labour journalists, and a spokesperson for the Knights of Labor, North America’s largest labour organization of the late 19th century.

His 1887 book The Politics of Labor was one of the first to critique the development of Canada’s political economy, and he used his sartorial skills to write The Labor Reform Songster; a collection of working-class marching songs for the militant movement. For the Social Democrats of the North theme music, the tune of US folk song “John Brown’s Body” is used in variation as the tune to the Phillips Thompson’s Labor Reform Songster melody “The March of the Workers.”

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Social Democrats of the North: Canadian Visions for Justice & Equality from Confederation to the Quiet Revolution is a new podcast series from Perspectives Journal by Broadbent Research Fellow and Editorial Committee Member Dave McGrane.

Dave McGrane, Professor of Political Science at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan, explores the life, times, and ideas of Canada’s most influential social democrats. From Confederation at 1867, to the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, discover the people who shaped social democracy in Canada, the movements that fought for the working-class, and the legacies they’ve left for the wellbeing of all Canadians. There are lessons for activists, and forgotten struggles that apply to today’s wins. After all, the best teacher for a better world tomorrow, is the past.

Social Democrats of the North is a Perspectives Journal Podcast Series, published by the Broadbent Institute.

Host & Episode Research – Dave McGrane

Producer – Clement Nocos

Production Assistant – Jack McClelland

--

Theme music note

The tune of US folk song “John Brown’s Body” is used extensively for militant labour movements and group marching, referencing US abolitionist John Brown. The tune has evolved into a number of variations, including ‘The March of the Workers’ in the Labor Reform Songster (1892) by Ontario labour leader Phillips Thompson (Social Democrats of the North Episode 2).

Battle Hymn of the Republic medley by Marisa Anderson is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Support the show

Support the show