On May 20, 1957, over a thousand people braved heavy rain and packed the Mossbank Community Hall to witness a confrontation of epic proportions.
Douglas & Thatcher just prior to the debate
Audience members lined up in the rain to enter the hall
Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, the icon of prairie socialism, faced Ross Thatcher, a renegade former colleague. Their debate established Thatcher’s reputation as the fierce champion of free enterprise and was the prequel for over a decade of some of the sharpest ideological tension in provincial history. Two year prior, Thatcher abandoned Douglas’s party, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), which he had represented in Parliament since 1945. After subsequently joining the Liberals, Thatcher further earned Douglas’s ire by labelling Saskatchewan’s crown corporations a “dismal failure.” Douglas challenged Thatcher to debate the record of the crown corporations any time and any place. Thatcher accepted, and selected Mossbank, a Liberal stronghold as the location for the debate.
The debate attracted unprecedented attention, with reporters from all over Canada in attendance. Broadcast live via radio, thousands listened as the two men argued facts and figures about the relative success or failure of crown corporations. Douglas cast aspersions on his opponent’s political integrity while Thatcher suggested government accounting practices were suspect. The highly partisan audience, almost equally divided between CCF and Liberal supporters, interrupted both speakers with boisterous heckling and applause.
Douglas and Thatcher both performed well, providing the audience with compelling arguments and entertaining theatrics. Although defeated in 1957, the Mossbank debate propelled Thatcher into the provincial arena where he eventually became Premier himself. The Debate proved to be a harbinger for the bitterly fought battles between right and left during the 1960s.
Pictures Courtesy of the Saskatchewan Archives Board, Mick West and the Leader Post.