RCMP spied on Tommy Douglas, newly released files show

By JIM BRONSKILL
CNews
December 17, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - RCMP spies shadowed Tommy Douglas, the fabled Prairie politician, for more than three decades, from his early days as a young firebrand through a tumultuous tenure as NDP leader.

A newly declassified file on Douglas shows the Mounties surreptitiously attended the witty orator’s speeches, dissected his published articles and, during one Parliament Hill demonstration, eavesdropped on a private conversation.

Douglas, a trailblazing socialist committed to social reform, drew the interest of RCMP security officers through his longstanding links with left-wing causes, the burgeoning peace movement and assorted Communist Party members.

In the late 1970s, as the veteran politician neared retirement, the Mounties recommended keeping his file open based on the notion “there is much we do not know about Douglas.”

(more…)