Morton Shulman
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Morton Shulman (April 25, 1925 – August 18, 2000) was a Canadian politician, businessman, broadcaster, columnist, coroner and physician.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Shulman received his M.D from the University of Toronto in 1948. Shulman practiced throughout his professional life in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood. He became rich through investing in the stock market and wrote a bestselling book, Anyone Can Make a Million in 1966. In exchange for his involvement in the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, he was appointed Toronto's chief coroner in 1963. Shulman was an outspoken coroner and used the position to crusade on a number of issues such as enacting tougher regulations on lifejackets for small boats, having government regulate car safety, the introduction of breathalysers into Ontario, and against then-restrictive abortion laws after he investigated the deaths of women who had died while trying to terminate their pregnancies. He became the inspiration for the Canadian television drama Wojeck and its American counterpart, Quincy, M.E..
After embarrassing the provincial government by revealing its inaction in enforcing the fire code in a recently built hospital, he was fired as coroner and decided to avenge himself by running for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Despite ideological differences, he accepted the nomination of the left-wing Ontario New Democratic Party. Despite his strong capitalist beliefs, he decided to run for the democratic socialist party because they gave him a free hand in choosing his own riding, and because their views in support of public safety were compatible with his own. He ran as a candidate in High Park and was elected as Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the riding in the 1967 provincial election.
He used his position in the legislature to become a thorn in the side of the Tory governments led by John Robarts and Bill Davis. He asked provocative questions in the legislature and was known for stunts, such as selling the book The Happy Hooker out of his office after it had been banned by the Toronto Police morality squad - he offered MPPs a 10% discount - and bringing a semi-automatic rifle onto the floor of the legislature and waving it around while giving a speech to make a point about lax security (while cabinet ministers sitting across from him hid under their desks).
From 1977 until 1982, he hosted a hard-hitting television show on CITY-TV called The Shulman File which featured confrontational interviews, sensationalist and risque topics and outrageous opinions. The show was spoofed by SCTV as Murray's File. At the same time, he began writing a regular column in the Toronto Sun which continued into the 1990s. After clashing with his colleagues in the NDP, particularly party leader Stephen Lewis who refused to agree to Shulman's demands that he be appointed Attorney General if the party won the following election, Shulman decided to leave the legislature and did not run in the 1975 election. After leaving politics, he continued his career in broadcasting for several years, and became more involved in the financial community, heading up a mutual fund and pursuing various business interests.
Shulman was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1982, and formed a company, Deprenyl Research Ltd., in order to acquire Canadian rights to the anti-Parkinson's drug Deprenyl. His company engaged in a long fight with the federal government for approval of the drug for sale in Canada.
In 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
