Dick Proctor (born February 12, 1941 in
Toronto,
Ontario) is a
Canadian political activist, former
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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(NDP)
Member of Parliament, and a former journalist.
Career
Politics
Proctor has been active with the NDP in a number of capacities since the 1970s. In the early part of that decade, he was communications director for
Ontario NDP leader
Stephen Lewis
Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s.
During many of those years as leade ...
. He was cabinet press secretary to then-
Premier of Saskatchewan Allan Blakeney during the
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
and
1982 provincial election campaigns. He was executive assistant to federal NDP leader
Ed Broadbent in the intervening period.
In the mid-1980s, Proctor worked as the research director for the
National Union of Provincial Government Employees and then as the project coordinator of the
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.
History Formation
The CLC was ...
in
Latin America. He returned to the NDP in 1989 to serve as the party's federal secretary. He then served as
provincial secretary for the
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996.
Sports writer
He also worked as a journalist for the ''
Edmonton Journal
The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.
History
The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...
'' and ''
Toronto Telegram'' in the 1960s and 1970s, and as sportswriter for ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' in the 1970s. Moonlighting for ''The Hockey News'' under the pseudonym "Mike Gamble", he wrote a profile of 16-year-old junior hockey player
Wayne Gretzky, and may have been the first person to use the phrase "The Great Gretzky".
Tenure in Parliament
Proctor entered electoral politics when he won a seat in the
1997 federal election representing the
Saskatchewan riding of
Palliser. He was re-elected in the
2000 election and served as NDP caucus chair from 2000 until he lost his seat in the
2004 federal election by 124 votes. From 2004 to 2005, he served as chief of staff to NDP leader
Jack Layton. He retired to
Victoria, British Columbia in 2005.
As an MP, Proctor forced the resignation of
Solicitor-General Andy Scott in 1998 when, on a flight from
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
to
Saint John, New Brunswick, he overheard an indiscreet conversation between Scott and a political ally discussing the inquiry into the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police's handling of protesters at the
Vancouver Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. According to Proctor, Scott predicted the outcome of the inquiry thus creating the impression that the judicial inquiry's findings had been predetermined.
Retirement
Proctor returned from retirement in October 2008 to act as Interim Federal Secretary for the NDP federal office. The vacancy he is filling was left by Éric Hébert-Daly, who resigned immediately following the 2008 campaign.
Sources
Profile: Dick Proctorfrom ''The Commonwealth'', accessed December 26, 2005.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, Dick
1941 births
Living people
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Saskatchewan
New Democratic Party MPs
Politicians from Toronto
Canadian political consultants
21st-century Canadian politicians