A Canadian politician uses Parliament as the forum from which he fights to improve the lives of the poor and elderly.
1987
STANLEY KNOWLES:
BY WORD AND DEED
"For such a dry stick, Stanley does evoke an
emotional response in people!" (Biographer
Susan Mann)
For over 40 years, Stanley Knowles was an
incorruptible, upright Member of Parliament,
steeped in integrity and fired with concern for
social reform. Even though he was a United
Church minister before running as a candidate
for the CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth
Federation), he was not exactly your fire-and-
brimstone preacher. But without Knowles'
tenacity and conviction in Parliament, many bills
for the betterment of society would not have
passed: "He worries a problem to death - nag
day after day and you get what you want!" says
the film's narrator, Peter Gzowski.
Stanley Knowles lost his first by-election in
1935 when he was 27 years old. It wasn't until
November 1942 that he won in Winnipeg North
Centre, arriving in Ottawa in January 1943 for
the 19th session of Parliament. After being
reprimanded by the Speaker on a point of
procedure, Knowles set out to master the
complexities of parliamentary rules and became
so knowledgeable that, according to journalist
Charles Lynch, "He was the terror of successive
Speakers."
In 1958, when the CCF standing plummetted
from 25 to eight seats, Stanley Knowles was not
reelected and, at 50, was looking for another job.
Elected executive vice-president of the Canadian
Labour Congress, he brought about the union of
the labour movement and the CCF to form
another party. Within three years the NDP was
born. In 1962 Stanley Knowles was back in
Parliament, the NDP won only 19 seats, and
Diefenbaker was PM.
Knowles turned down retirement to the
Senate (an institution he wanted abolished) and
remained in the House of Commons until 1984,
when he gave up his seat after a stroke
prevented him from functioning as fully as he
wished.
Aired on CBC in June to mark Stanley
Knowles' 80th birthday, this unblushing tribute
to a man of whom it's been said, "... he was 60
years old when he was 20 years old", is a little
prosaic, but full of admiration for its subject and
his life of dedication. And this is all the film deals
with. While Knowles boarded with the same
Ottawa family during all his parliamentary
years, his wife and children were in Manitoba,
and there's no hint of how this affected their
lives. But to Stanley Knowles, the House of
Commons was his life. This isn't a spectacular
film, but it is a sincere, affectionate and, indeed,
useful portrait of a man who lived in and for
Parliament.
p. Cygnus/Film Arts, Toronto d./~ Curtis cam.John
Griffin narr.Peter Gzowski. 55 min' 16mm/3/4" / 1/2".
Distributian: National Film Board. Made with assistance
from the National Film Board.
Негізгі бет Stanley Knowles: By Word and Deed
Пікірлер