In my opinion, the time is right for the NDP to get elected. While the liberals are busy cooking the books, and the conservatives are worried about who's getting married, the NDP are concerned with what matters to most Canadians; health care, child care, education and the environment. Reading this book, you couldn't help but wonder how they lost the vote for so many years.

This book isn't the greatest. It's written by a former news reporter, and it seems too factual at times. It lacks the human elements of conflicting priorities and indecision. I plan on reading one of the other two biographies about him.

Tommy Douglas was from my Grandma's era. It seems that people worked really hard back then and relied on simple pleasures for entertainment. It wasn't that long ago, but it was entirely different, and sometimes that's hard to relate to.

Tommy trained as a Minister and had a masters in Sociology. I can't help but think that this background caused the profound differences in policies as compared to people educated as lawyers. (Hmmm I wonder what kind of country we'd live in if it was being run by engineers?) It's interesting to read how the recession strengthenned the trade unions. The book helped me understand why the Doctors were so opposed to being made into civil servants.

Summary; an interesting read but there's probably a better book out there. It might be easier to relate to someone younger, like Stephen Lewis or Ed Broadbent. ( )