Tommy Douglas is top citizen

ONE million Canadians can’t be wrong. The North American nation has picked as its greatest ever citizen a man who was born and grew up in Scotland before heading across the Atlantic at the tender age of 15.

Tommy Douglas, from Falkirk, had no idea what lay in store when he and his family set sail shortly after the end of the First World War for a new life in Canada.

More than 80 years on, Douglas has beaten off rock stars and internationally famous statesmen to be voted the greatest Canadian of all time in a poll that honoured his extraordinary efforts to set up the country’s health service.

And there is yet another little-known yet remarkable twist in Douglas’s life: he played a key role in fathering a Hollywood dynasty.

His daughter Shirley married legendary actor Donald Sutherland, whose son Kiefer is currently one of the world’s best-known actors.

Douglas was chosen after more than a million people voted in a poll for Canada’s national television company, CBC. The radical socialist and former minister, who died in 1986, beat rivals who included ex-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, Nobel Prize winner Sir Frederick Banting, father of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell and singer Shania Twain.

Douglas’s fame was based in his politics. A former Saskatchewan premier and leader of the federal New Democratic party, he was dubbed the father of Canada’s health service and lauded for his honesty and integrity.

His success has been a major talking point throughout the nation, with most of the country agreeing with the choice.

William Christian, political science professor at the University of Guelph, said he had never heard anyone say anything derogatory about Douglas.

"They might not agree with his policies," Christian said. "They might think that some of the things that he did as premier of Saskatchewan were just plain foolish. But as a human being, they simply respected his integrity.

"When he got up in the morning, he was decent. When he went to bed, he was decent. Heck, the man probably even dreamed decent dreams."

Newspaper letters pages have been full of praise. "The country has voted and in so doing has best defined not just the greatest Canadian but rather why Canada is truly a great country," wrote Dr Alan Ennis.

"We did not pick a megastar, a great sports figure or anyone with a lot of flash. No, we chose a quiet, dignified, hard-working individual who cared about only one thing in his entire career - Canada."

The honour was no surprise in Falkirk, where Douglas has long been regarded as the town’s most famous son.

Last October, Provost James Johnson unveiled a plaque to Douglas at the Falkirk Wheel, close to his birthplace.

Maureen Campbell, the council’s director of community services, said: "We are proud to have such strong connections to a man who made such an impact on the history and development of Canada."

John Walker, chairman of the Falkirk Local History Society, said Douglas was internationally renowned.

"Although he spent most of his life in Canada, I think we should still recognise and celebrate his many achievements. His children and grandchildren have become internationally famous, and are still supporting those ideals."

Douglas was born at Sunnybrae, Camelon - a house owned by the family of TV inventor John Logie Baird - on October 20, 1904.

He left Falkirk in 1919, when his family emigrated, but his first career was in the Church, not politics.

His first church ministry was in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where he witnessed the suffering caused by the Depression and decided that political action was needed.

He was a member of the Canadian parliament from 1935 until 1944, when he became premier of Saskatchewan.

Douglas is most remembered for introducing universal ‘Medicare’ - the Canadian equivalent of the NHS - and retired from active politics in 1976.

The Hollywood connection started when his daughter Shirley, who is also an actress and political activist, married Donald Sutherland.

Tommy’s grandson Kiefer was born in London, while his parents were working in Britain. Kiefer, who plays federal agent Jack Bauer in the hit TV show 24, has also been politically active.

During the 1980s, Kiefer, 36, studied at the Scots-Canadian St Andrew’s College in Aurora, near Toronto.

As a pupil he had to wear a kilt to chapel every Sunday and he remains proud of his Scottish roots.

He was in Edinburgh in May for the marriage of his stepdaughter, Michelle Kath, to actor Adam Sinclair.

Canada remains an attractive destination for emigrant Scots, largely because of the large Scottish diaspora. There are now an estimated five million people of Scottish descent living in the country.

Major emigration began during the Highland Clearances and between 1773 and 1852 at least 30,000 Scots arrived in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton seeking a new life.

While immigration rules have become a little tougher, Canada still accepts between 200,000 and 225,000 immigrants every year, although many are now from the Far East.