Graham Spry (1900–1983) was a Canadian broadcasting pioneer, business executive, diplomat and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. He was the husband of Irene Spry and father of Robin Spry, Richard Spry and

Lib Spry Lib Spry is a Canadian director, playwright, and academic. She is a co-founder of Company of Sirens and Straight Stitching Productions and served as the artistic director of Passionate Balance. Career In 1986, Spry co-founded the feminist the ...

Life

He was born on February 20, 1900, in St. Thomas,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. While a student at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

, he became an editorial writer at the '' Manitoba Free Press'', where he was mentored by editor and Canadian nationalist John W. Dafoe. He also edited the student newspaper, '' The Manitoban''. He then studied history at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

. Upon his return to Canada, he became Secretary of the Canadian Clubs, and organized a nationwide broadcast to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation () was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion, Dominion of Ca ...

. The accomplishment, achieved despite the lack of a national radio network, convinced

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

to appoint the Aird Commission on Radio Broadcasting, a

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

which recommended the creation of a national broadcaster. Following the defeat of King's government Spry and Alan Plaunt formed the Canadian Radio League to rally support behind the Aird Commission's recommendation, arguing that it amounted to a choice between two alternatives, "the State or the United States". Peers, Frank. (1969) ''The Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1920–1951''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 91. The league mobilized public opinion in both English- and French-speaking regions of Canada, and convinced the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government of R. B. Bennett to form the

Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC/CCR; ), also referred to as the Canadian Radio Commission (CRC), was Canada's first public broadcaster and the immediate precursor to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Origins The CRBC was est ...

, which later became the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

. A socialist, Spry cofounded the

League for Social Reconstruction The League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) was a circle of Canadian socialists officially formed in 1932. The group advocated for social and economic reformation as well as political education. The formation of the LSR was provoked by events suc ...

(LSR), contributed to the writing of the

Regina Manifesto The Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1933. The goal of the Regina Manifesto wa ...

, and purchased both the '' Farmer's Sun'' (publication of the United Farmers of Ontario), renamed the ''New Commonwealth'', and the ''

Canadian Forum The ''Canadian Forum'' was a literary, cultural and political publication and Canada's longest running continually published political magazine (1920–2000). History and profile ''The Canadian Forum'', A Monthly Journal of Literature and Public ...

'' to propagate the LSR's views. He served as vice president of the Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1934 to 1936. He was the first national

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 ...

candidate in Ontario, running in the 24 September 1934 by-election in Toronto East. He ran again for the national CCF in the 1935 general election, this time in the newly created Broadview electoral district. He lost on both occasions to Conservative Tommy Church. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Spry helped organize medical support for the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion that fought on the Republican side. In 1938, Spry married Irene Mary Biss. Unable to find work in Canada because of his socialist convictions, however, Spry accepted a job offer from an old Oxford friend and served as a British-based executive for

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

from 1940 to 1946, managing subsidiaries operating in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and elsewhere. From 1942 to 1945, he also served as personal assistant to Sir

Stafford Cripps Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat. A wealthy lawyer by background, Cripps first entered Parliament at a 1931 Bristol East by-election ...

, a Labour minister in the wartime British cabinet, and travelled with Cripps to India. After the war, Spry was named agent-general of

Tommy Douglas Thomas Clement Douglas (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as the seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Bap ...

's CCF government in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

representing the province of

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 ...

from 1946 to 1968 in Britain, including responsibility for Europe and the Middle East. Spry played a crucial role during the 1962 Saskatchewan doctors' strike against Medicare by recruiting British doctors to move to the province. In 1968 he reactivated his involvement with broadcasting, founding the Canadian Broadcasting League over which he presided until 1973. In 1970, Spry reputedly turned down Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

's offer of a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seat. That same year, he was made a Companion of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. Graham Spry died in Ottawa on November 24, 1983.

Building

A federal government building dedicated in the name of Graham Spry is located at 250 Lanark Avenue, Ottawa. Formerly the home of the

's Ottawa television studios, it now houses several directorates of

Health Canada Health Canada (HC; )Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary units, department of the Gove ...

References

Sources

*Babe, Robert. (2000) "Graham Spry" in ''Canadian Communications Thought: Ten Foundational Writers.'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press. . *McChesney, Robert W. (1999
"Graham Spry and the Future of Canadian Broadcasting"
''Canadian Journal of Communication'' 24(1).

External links

1961 interview with Spry recounting the activities of the Canadian Radio League in establishing public broadcasting

Graham Spry Fund for Public Broadcasting

(CBC Broadcasting Museum)
Graham Spry fonds (R4607)
at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spry, Graham 1900 births 1983 deaths Alumni of University College, Oxford Businesspeople from Ontario Canadian diplomats Canadian Rhodes Scholars Canadian socialists Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario) Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Companions of the Order of Canada People from St. Thomas, Ontario Presidents of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation University of Manitoba alumni