James H. Aitchison

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James Hermiston Aitchison (1908 in Innerleithen, Scotland - 12 July 1994 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) was a Canadian academic and politician. He was also the leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party.

James was the son of James Charles Aitchison and Elizabeth Fleming. He came to Canada at an early age and was raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education from the University of Saskatchewan. He would go on to earn a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of London and a Ph. D. from the University of Toronto.

During World War Two, he served in the Canadian Army as a Major from 1942-1946. After his service James taught high school and eventually lecturered at Brandon College, Manitoba; University of Toronto; McMaster University; and Victoria College, Victoria, British Columbia. Between 1949-1973 he taught political Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He served for a period as Chairman of the Department, and remained Professor Emeritus within the department until his retirement in 1983.

During his time at Dalhousie University he served as President of the Dalhousie Faculty Association, as well as President of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Chairman of the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada; Vice-President of the Canadian Political Science Association as well as Vice President of the Institute for Public Administration of Canada. He also served as a council member for many years on the Atlantic Council of Canada.

[edit] Academic bibliography

1940 - Canada at War (Toronto: Canadian Institite of International Affairs).
1953 - The Development of Local Government in Upper Canada (Thesis (Ph. D) University of Toronto).
1963 - The Political Process in Canada: Essays in Honour of R. MacGregor Dawson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press).

[edit] Politics

In 1961 when the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation joined with the Canadian Labour Congress to form the New Democratic Party, Aitchison became the first leader of the party in Nova Scotia. He served as Leader from 1961-1968. Aitchison was accused of being part of the Halifax elite that was believed to have taken the party from its traditional roots and leadership in industrial Cape Breton Island. He was declined to reoffer in 1968 and was replaced by Jeremy Akerman of Cape Breton. However, Aitchison continued to be active within the party until the early 1970s when he ceased involvement.

Aitchison ran for Federal Parliament in 1962 and in 1965. He also ran as a candidate for the Nova Scotia Legislature in 1967. During his time as leader the party received the highest percentage of the vote (8%, 1960) since 1945. However, Aitchison failed to win a seat for himself, or any other candidate for that matter, in Nova Scotia's Legislature. By the end of his leadership the NDP had received its two lowest percentages of the vote, reaching a twenty-five-year low, when it received a vote of some 4% in 1963.

Aitchison married Oriele Faram and had one daughter. He died at the age of 86 in Halifax, Nova Scotia .