Description
THE PASTOR TOMMY DOUGLAS STORY
For more than 50 years, his unwavering commitment to social justice, his brilliant political acumen and infectious charm earned Baptist Pastor Tommy Douglas the love and respect of millions. Driven by his faith and caring heart, many of the freedoms that Canadian citizens now take for granted were the fruit of Douglas� tireless efforts. Prairie Giant traces the steps of Tommy Douglas� life from 1930 to 1961 and then culminates in Douglas being voted as the greatest Canadian of all time. Approx. 180 minutes.
REVIEWS
"I saw this when it was a made for TV movie for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. It's the story of a Baptist minister in the prairie during the Great Depression who sees the needs of his people and starts organizing ways to help. An incident involving striking miners politicizes him which displeases the church. He is forced to choose between what they saw as being too political and his activities as minister. It's a moving story that even kept my 12 year old glued to it which really amazed me. I thought a kid would find the story-line boring. It's the story of Tommy Douglas' adult life until his death, and how he fought so that all Canadians could have health insurance and many other benefits. It's an inspiration and certainly timely as the US debates something as fundamental as health care for all. (BTW Tommy Douglas' mother died because she didn't have insurance and that helped fuel his fight)." - Lillian
"The heated debate in the U.S. about health care reform made me wonder if universal health care passed by a large consensus in Canada, or if there was a great struggle or opposition. Prairie Giant explains the history of Medicare in Canada by depicting the life of young Tommy Douglas and his wonderful wife Irma Dempsey.
Douglas started off as a minister until he realized that he could never heal people's wounds when they were caused by exploitative conditions at work. He was a maverick, bravely advocating on behalf of unions and other social issues before he took on Medicare; he had to leave the church in order to do so and go into politics, becoming the extremely popular premier of Saskatchewan.
Often I feel disheartened about our current politicians. They talk a good talk but when they get into office, they do and say something entirely different. It was very illuminating and inspiring to watch Douglas, perhaps one of the greatest Canadians in the last century. He was a man of decency and integrity -- even his ornery nature in later years and resistance against spending the rest of his life federalizing Medicare only served to humanize him. And his wife was his equal partner and driving force. Great story. Highly recommended." - Sigrid Macdonald