Alfred Claude Ellis (known as Claude Ellis) (November 2, 1919 – October 1, 1997) was a schoolteacher and politician. Ellis was born in

Weyburn Weyburn is the tenth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 11,019. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

but moved with his family to Regina where he attended high school. He was one of the early members of the

Saskatchewan CCF CCF can refer to: Computing * Confidential Consortium Framework, a free and open-source blockchain infrastructure framework developed by Microsoft * Customer Care Framework, a Microsoft product Finance * Credit conversion factor converts the am ...

serving on the party's

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Canad ...

council as a teenager while he was president of the Saskatchewan CCF's youth wing, the Co-operative Commonwealth Youth Movement, in the 1930s and appeared at rallies on the same stage as

J.S. Woodsworth James Shaver Charleston Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a Canadian Methodist minister, politician, and labour activist. He was a pioneer of the Canadian Social Gospel, a Christian religious movement with Social democracy, socia ...

and M.J. Coldwell. He also an active

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist in Saskatchewan. As a student, he won several oratory and debating prizes including the Bryant Public Speaking Contest for Saskatchewan in 1937Archives Canada, Claude Ellis fonds and the national Dominion Debating Championship at

Guelph, Ontario Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

in 1948. He was first elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as the Member of Parliament for

Regina City Regina City was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1935 to 1968. This Riding (division), riding was created in 1933 from parts of Regina ...

in the 1953 federal election representing the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

. He was re-elected in 1957 federal election but lost his seat in the 1958 election that saw

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...

's Tories sweep the country, in particular Diefenbaker's home province of

. Ellis attempted to regain his seat as a

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

candidate but was unsuccessful. As a parliamentarian he was an advocate for housing and health care among other issues. After his defeat, Ellis returned to teaching, this time as a professor at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

. Ellis was eulogised in the House of Commons following his death on October 1, 1997.Hansard
House of Commons, Wednesday, October 8, 1997

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Claude 1919 births 1997 deaths Canadian socialists Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Saskatchewan People from Weyburn New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada