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Canada It's All About Tea Podcast TTT Season 3 Tommy Douglas

Season 3 Episode 28: Tommy Douglas & All About Canada

“Courage, my friends; ‘tis not too late to build a better world.”

Tommy Douglas

Welcome to Tea Toast & Trivia.

Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia

Thank you for listening in.

I am your host, Rebecca Budd, and I am looking forward to sharing this moment with you.

This podcast is all about Canada, my home.  It is also a story about Canadians. So put the kettle on and add to the discussion on Tea Toast & Trivia.

Breakwater District, Victoria British, Columbia

I leave you with this thought by Tommy Douglas.

“We are all in this world together, and the only test of our character that matters is how we look after the least fortunate among us. How we look after each other, not how we look after ourselves. That’s all that really matters, I think.”

Tommy Douglas

Until next time we meet, dear friends, keep safe and be well.

Tommy Douglas & All About Canada – Tea. Toast. & Trivia.

Click on the photo to watch the unveiling!

CBC Archives

By Rebecca Budd

Blogger, Visual Storyteller, Podcaster, Traveler and Life-long Learner

44 replies on “Season 3 Episode 28: Tommy Douglas & All About Canada”

Thank you for listening in, Becky and for your lovely comment. When I first read Tommy Douglas’s story I was amazed that one act of kindness by a doctor had unimaginable outcomes for Canada. I am certain he didn’t realize the one operations would lead to Medicare. When I look back in my life,I see how another person’s act of kindness opened new opportunities, new thoughts, new journeys, for me.

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Such a fantastic post! I learned so much about Canada that I did not know. The final quote is wonderful! I am so glad I had the opportunity to spend this time here on your blog. 🙂 Just awesome!

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Thank you so much for listening in, Linda. This was the first time that I learned that Santa Claus was a Canadian citizen with a passport to travel anywhere in the world! Tommy Douglas was a remarkable man. He started as a Baptist minister, but his journey was to take him to Ottawa. Life has unexpected twists and turns. Thank you for spending time with me – very much appreciated.

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I read that many countries claim that Santa Claus belongs to them. Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greenland, Denmark & Turkey (that was where Saint Nicholas was born). And the Dutch started it all with Sinterklass, which is where Santa Claus comes from. But I think we are the only ones with the passport. Canadian like their paperwork.

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I have commented elsewhere, but I want to add here that this is a very important subject and person. It is his outstanding work as a citizen and as a leader in politics that has changed much of the way Canada sees its life of history and politics.. We have a lot to thank him for. A big thanks goes to the doctor who saved his leg as a child. A very historical and interesting post! !

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Thank you for listening in and for your visit and comments, Frances. Isn’t it interesting that one act of kindness changed the course of a nation? It seems that events and circumstances come to us and present us with a decision on how to respond. You will like this quote by Tommy Douglas: “The inescapable fact is that when we build a society based on greed, selfishness, and ruthless competition, the fruits we can expect to reap are economic insecurity at home and international discord abroad.”

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Your choice of leaving us with the memory of Tommy Douglas, is a gift, second to none. Having lived through his presence in this world, thus so to influence, for too short a period, the Canadian political life, was my good fortune, to have been around. Pierre Elliott Trudeau would be another such momentous experience . Thank you Rebecca for that great video of the Greatest Canadian. Truly a gift to treasure!

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What I loved about Tommy Douglas was his brilliant sense of humour. Do you remember when he said, “I don’t mind being a symbol but I don’t want to become a monument. There are monuments all over the Parliament Buildings and I’ve seen what the pigeons do to them.” He was a national treasure as were many others who dedicated their lives to Canada and beyond. I am delighted you enjoyed this podcast, Jean-Jacques. Thank you for your support and encouragement.

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What was interesting about “The Greatest Canadian” program was that people voted for Tommy Douglas 18 years after his passing. He had a brilliant political wit, which is evident in this quote: “Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes.” Actions – good and bad – have ramifications long after. Dr. Smith probably never knew that his act of kindness had such lasting results. Thank you so much for listening in – very much appreciated.

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I already commented above, but after listening again, I would like to thank you, especially, for the beginning of the article where you wrote so many interesting, new, and historical stories of our beloved Canada. How about the landing place for outer space vehicles and the far north city where polar bears live by the dozens. It is also good to be reminded about our coastlines and the immensity of land area from North to South and from East to West. We live in a beautiful land, thank you for all the wonderful reminders!

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It is lovely to listen to all this fascinating history about Canada, Rebecca. I don’t know that much about Canada other than about the Mounties. It is amazing to listen to all this innovation when I am sitting in my home in South Africa watching the looting and burning of all the infrastructure in the city of Durban and in the townships. The footage looks like a war zone.

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Thank you for listening in, Robbie. I have been following the situation and South Africa with a great deal of worry. Please take care – you will be in my thoughts and prayers.

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Hi Rebecca, this rioting is on a bigger scale than in the past, but we do get this type of behaviour every few years here. It is just sad it is happening now when the economy is so low. It is going to result in more job losses and poverty.

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Thanks, Liz. What’s happening now, and expected to happen next week when Zuma goes to court again, will be a deciding factor about whether South Africa continues as a democracy or becomes another African failed state with a despot in the driving seat. I am in the middle of history being made. It’s quite amazing.

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Only “the top two leaves?” That’s a picky tea drinker. Lol. A wonderful tour through Canada. I knew about the polar bears, but not about the alien landing pad. 🙂 And of course, Santa is Canadian. What a fun post, Rebecca. I would love to live in Canada, though my extended family would have to move too. And lovely quotes from Douglas – no wonder he became such a wonderful symbol of your country’s resilience and heart.

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Did you know that Kiefer Sutherland is his Tommy Douglas’s grandson? Tommy Douglas had a great wit and political savvy. Canada is just a few miles away. One day, we will meet at the border, Dianna! Hugs!

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For most of my growing up years, I lived ten miles from the Canadian border. My mother always drank Red Rose tea. My dad listened exclusively to CBC radio. My brother and I listened to the only FM station we could get in our little town: CHOM FM out of Montreal. It was a very big deal.

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Thank you for listening in, Tim. Tommy Douglas had wit, humour and a love for Canada. “The religion of tomorrow will be less concerned with the dogmas of theology and more concerned with the social welfare of humanity.”

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I am delighted that you listened in, Mary Jo. I had no idea about the landing pad in St Paul, Alberta. I used to travel through St. Paul via Greyhound bus never thinking that there was a landing pad there.

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Thank you for this informative post, Rebecca. Wen I moved from Seattle to Connecticut, we drove north through Vancouver and then east. We went as far as Montreal, to see as much of your wonderful country as we could. I was happy to learn several things today that I did not know. It doesn’t surprise me at all to learn that Santa is Canadian.

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Thank you Dan, for listening in and for your comments. How wonderful to make that trip across the mountains and prairies. I remember standing in a field of grain in the middle of Saskatchewan when it was late August, early September. I was in my early twenties. I had traveled from Edmonton to visit my parents before I started a new job that would become, unbeknownst to me, the beginning of a long career. The sky was pure blue, not a cloud in the sky. The smell of the earth and wind carrying the scent of a recent harvest reminded me that we are part of a greater story. Isn’t it interesting how small events like that leave a lasting memory. Interestingly, this was less that 200 miles from the small town of Weyburn, Sask where Tommy Douglas was the minister of the Baptist Church.

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I didn’t realize how far to the west the mountains are in Canada. When we started down the east side, I felt we could actually see the shape of the earth. That’s what I remember most about that drive. We stayed overnight in Saskatoon.

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