Bill Blaikie

Original air date: May 2008

Host Catherine Clark goes beyond politics to provide a window into the lives of public figures through informal, one-on-one, out-of-studio interviews. Beyond Politics reveals the personal, human side of life in the spotlight.

On this episode of Beyond Politics, Catherine Clark talks to Bill Blaikie, the dean of the House of Commons, about his many years on the Hill and about his family back home in Winnipeg.

In 1978 Bill Blaikie was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Canada. A year later, Mr. Blaikie was approached to run for the New Democratic Party in the riding of Elmwood–Transcona, Manitoba. Mr. Blaikie won the riding, and for the next 29 years was an outspoken advocate for the rights of the poor and the disadvantaged, a champion for publicly funded healthcare, and a passionate spokesperson for the environment. In 2007, Mr. Blaikie announced that he was retiring from public life.