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run in the next election because Lucille, who had been diagnosed with
breast cancer, needed him. He said he could not do his duty as an MP
and fulfill his “deeply felt obligations to the person who is the love of my
life.”
He points to a side table in the shape of an elephant that still has
pride of place in his Ottawa living room as an example of their closeness.
“There’s a wonderful story about that elephant,” he smiles.“Lucille
and I saw it in a store in the Byward Market.I said that I loved it.She said
I was crazy. But she went back there the same day and gave it me for my
birthday a couple of weeks later. That was the kind of thing that was
very typical of Lucille.”
Sadly, the couple, who had been married for 35 years, did not have
much time left together, as Lucille died in November 2006.
The two had first come together at the beginning of Ed’s political
career, when Lucille, then a 29-year-old widow with a young son, Paul,
campaigned on his behalf. She and Ed, who had separated from his first
wife,Yvonne Yamaoka, after six years of marriage, soon started dating.
They were married in 1971.
Ed’s initial decision to enter politics was, like the second time
around, fueled by principle. As the first member of his family to go to
university, he originally planned to spend his working life in academia.
“I was happy with academic work, but I really believe in social
improvement and change and I was inspired by Tommy Douglas, who
was the leader of the NDP at the time, so I said yes when my hometown
riding association in Oshawa raised the question of nominating me in
1968. (In our party, all nominations are contested. You don’t have an
automatic entry.)”
He had refused the invitation the first time he was asked in 1965, as
he was completing his Ph.D.As an academic,Ed began his studies in philosophy
and moved on to political thought, with a doctoral dissertation
on the 19th-century philosopher John Stuart Mill (best
known for his classical liberalism and interpretation of
utilitarianism).
“I guess I was always attracted to great
philosophical issues,”he says, adding that one
of the biggest influences in his life was his
mother. “She had no formal education
beyond high school, but she was the
most thoughtful, considerate human
being.”
The pattern of his father’s work life
— he was a grocery salesman during the
war years and then a clerk with General
Motors in Oshawa — was one of the reasons
that he was drawn to the NDP. His older sister
and younger brother, who is active in his Canadian
Auto Workers’ union local, are also committed New
Democrats “at the ordinary citizen level,” says Ed.
His lengthy involvement in the political scene, as well as his
stature, nationally and internationally, makes a similar level of
anonymity impossible for the former NDP leader. Although he
does not intend to run for political office again, his current plans
include some public speaking and writing.
May 2008 • 15 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine