Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality

Edward Broadbent

Dec 2023 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Frank Block

About this audiobook

The first full-length treatment of Ed Broadbent's ideas and remarkable seven-decade engagement in public life Part memoir, part history, part political manifesto, Seeking Social Democracy offers the first full-length treatment of Ed Broadbent's ideas and remarkable seven-decade engagement in public life. In dialogue with three collaborators from different generations, Broadbent leads listeners through a life spent fighting for equality in Parliament and beyond: exploring the formation of his social democratic ideals, his engagement on the international stage, and his relationships with historical figures from Pierre Trudeau and Fidel Castro to Tommy Douglas, Rene Levesque, and Willy Brandt. From the formative minority Parliament of 1972-1974 to the contentious national debate over Canada's constitution to the free trade election of 1988, the book chronicles the life and thought of one of Canada's most respected political leaders and public intellectuals from his childhood in 1930s Oshawa to the present day. Broadbent's analysis also points toward the future, offering lessons to a new generation on how principles can inform action and social democracy can look beyond neoliberalism. The result is an engaging, timely, and sweeping analysis of Canadian politics, philosophy, and the nature of democratic leadership.

About the author

Ed Broadbent was the leader of Canada's New Democratic Party from 1975 to 1989 and member of Parliament for Oshawa (1968-1990) and Ottawa Centre (2004-2006). He is the editor of Democratic Inequality: What Went Wrong? and a frequent author of newspaper and magazine opinion articles.

Frank Block, an author turned full-time narrator, has recorded 470-plus audiobooks from his home studio. Frank grew up in a small prairie town surrounded by colorful storytellers, which helped him develop his own unique craft of storytelling. He lives with his wife of more than thirty years in beautiful British Columbia.

Frances Abele is Distinguished Research Professor and Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy Emerita at Carleton University. She is a research fellow at the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation and the Broadbent Institute. Much of her work focuses on Indigenous-Canada relations.

Jonathan Sas has worked in senior policy and political roles in government, think tanks, and the labour movement. He is an honorary witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His writing has appeared in the Toronto Star, National Post, the Tyee, and Maisonneuve magazine.

Luke Savage is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in the Atlantic, the Guardian, Jacobin, the New Statesman, the Washington Post, Smithsonian magazine, and the Literary Review of Canada. His first book, The Dead Center, was published in 2022.