March 21, 2025 marks what would have been Ed’s 89th birthday.
The occasion gives us a chance to miss our friend and reflect on Ed’s extraordinary contributions to our country.
Throughout his life, Ed championed the rights of working people, fought to expand democracy beyond the ballot box, and was a lifelong critic of economic inequality. Ed’s ideas remain as relevant today as ever, and we at the Institute are committed to ensuring his words continue to inspire the next generation.
That’s why today we’re publishing three speeches from Ed’s career in Parliament, demonstrating the need for social democratic perspectives in the halls of power, accompanied by commentary from his Seeking Social Democracy co-author, Luke Savage. These speeches highlight key moments in his lifelong fight for justice:
- His first speech in Parliament on Bill C-3 (1968), advocating for workers’ free speech rights in a democratic society.
- His call for industrial democracy (1969), making the case for a radical redistribution of power in Canadian workplaces.
- His landmark address on child poverty (1989), reminding us that poverty is a political choice, and calling for its eradication.
As Luke Savage writes, “From his earliest days in Parliament to his final major address as NDP leader, Ed’s vision was unwavering: democracy must be more than a principle—it must be a practice.”
Luke’s archival work recovers Ed’s perspectives and ideas which provide valuable insight into what he would have thought of the world today. With today’s working-class under attack by the far-right alliance with billionaires, Ed stated in the House of Commons in 1968:
A free society, therefore, must make it a legal right for workers as well as others to persuade as many as they can that their cause merits support. To deny this right to these workers is to deny them a fundamental freedom.
Ed Broadbent dedicated his life to building a fairer and more equal Canada. Today, we carry that work forward. With your support, we can continue amplifying these ideas, daring to take on right-wing narratives, and fighting for economic justice.