George Eamon Park (26 November 1916 – 28 April 1975) was a Canadian politician and political organizer for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the New Democratic Party. He was elected in the Toronto riding of

Dovercourt Dovercourt is a small seaside town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harwich, in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich, and appears in ...

in 1948.

Background

Park was born in

Monkstown, County Cork Monkstown ( - 'the town of the monk', formerly anglicised as ''Ballinvannegh'') is a village in County Cork, Ireland, in the old barony of Kerrycurrihy. It lies 14 kilometres southeast of Cork city on the estuary of the River Lee, facing Great I ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1916. His father, Robert Park Sr., was in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and on manoeuvers at the time of his son's birth. Catherine Mary Park left

Portsmouth, England Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

to be with her family in Ireland to have the baby. George was the eldest of four children; Catherine (called Kae), Thomas and Robert Jr. followed. In 1925 the family moved to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

where Robert Park was working as a foreman at a mine. A long

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

led the Parks to decide to move to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. They arrived in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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 C ...

in 1927. George attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Toronto and graduated from De La Salle Academy. Upon graduation he got involved with the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

, becoming a staff member at the

United Steel Workers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...

and an activist with the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. It was during this time he dropped his first name and began to use the name Eamon instead. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Park was living in Ottawa and met and married Anne Clare, a social worker originally from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. They had two children; Patricia Anne and Kevin Robert. His wife Anne returned to Canada and remained an NDP activist until her death in January 1991. Both of their children followed in the Park family footsteps. Patty is a social worker, who also worked for the NDP government in Ontario in the 1990s. Her first husband, Dick Proctor, later became federal secretary of the NDP and a Member of Parliament for

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. Her current husband, Murray Weppler, is a former executive assistant to federal NDP leader

Ed Broadbent John Edward "Ed" Broadbent (born March 21, 1936) is a Canadian social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the Broadbent Institute, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989. In the 200 ...

and Ontario leaders Michael Cassidy and Bob Rae. Kevin Park became a union activist, working for the

United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

and the

Canadian Auto Workers The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW; formally the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada) was one of Canada's largest and highest profile labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and ...

union. He worked on staff at the British Columbia Government Employees Union in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. He died in Vancouver in 2007. Kevin's twin children are carrying on the family tradition. Gareth Robert is a social worker in Ottawa, currently working with the

Canadian Mental Health Association The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is a Canadian non-profit mental health organization that focusing on resources, programs and advocacy. It was founded on April 22, 1918, by Dr. Clarence M. Hincks and Clifford W. Beers. Originally nam ...

. He was a delegate to the 1989 NDP convention, making him the third generation of Parks to vote at an NDP gathering, and worked for

Howard Hampton Howard George Hampton (born May 17, 1952) is a politician who was a member of Provincial Parliament for the province of Ontario. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, from 1987 to 1999 in the electoral district of Rainy Ri ...

when he was an Ontario cabinet minister. Megan Kathleen is on staff at the

Ontario Public Service Employees Union The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU; french: Syndicat des employés de la fonction publique de l'Ontario EFPOlink=no) is a trade union representing public sector employees in the province of Ontario, Canada. It claims a membership ...

in Toronto and also worked for an NDP cabinet minister in the 1990s.

Politics

In 1948 Park was elected as the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section) The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section) – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, or more commonly known as the Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist provincial political party in Ontario that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the ...

(CCF) member of the Ontario legislature for the Toronto riding of

. He ran in the 1951 election and was defeated. He ran in the federal election of 1968 as the NDP candidate for York East in Toronto but was defeated, coming in third with 27.47% of the vote.

CCF/NDP organizer

Park continued his work with the union and the party, holding many roles within the provincial and national CCF infrastructure. Following the federal party's crushing defeat in the 1958 federal election, it was decided that the Canadian Labour Congress would align itself with the CCF to form a new political party. Park was a CLC representative on the Political Action Committee. The reborn group was first called The New Party, adopting a suggestion made by Park, later to become the New Democratic Party. At the NDP founding convention in 1961, Park was elected as secretary of the NDP executive. From 1965 to 1967 he served as president of the federal party. In 1972 the Canadian government appointed Park as labour attache to the

High Commission of Canada to the United Kingdom High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...

. He also had responsibility for labour relations with Sweden. He died in London on 28 April 1975. His ashes were interred alongside his wife's in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, George Eamon Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MPPs 20th-century Canadian politicians 1916 births Presidents of the New Democratic Party of Canada New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons British emigrants to Canada 1975 deaths Politicians from County Cork People from Monkstown, County Cork