Claude Jodoin

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Claude Jodoin (May 25, 1913 – March 1, 1975) was a Canadian trade unionist and politician. He served as the first president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1956 to 1966.

Born in the Montreal suburb of Westmount, Jodoin was educated at Brebeuf College. In 1937 he became an organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union serving as an Canadian manager of the union from 1947 to 1951. From 1940 to 1942 and again from 1947 to 1954 he served as an alderman on Montreal City Council and was elected in a 1942 by-election to the Quebec Legislative Assembly as a member of the Quebec Liberal Party representing the Montreal riding of St. Jacob.^[1] He lost his seat in 1944 and was defeated in an attempt to regain a seat in the Legislature as an independent candidate in 1948. He had been leader of the Young Liberals of Canada in 1939.

From 1944, Jodoin served as the first chair of the Trade and Labour Council of Canada's National Standing Committee on Racial Discrimination.^[2]

Jodoin had served as president of the Montreal Trades and Labour Council and became president of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada in 1954. He led the TLC in unity talks with the Canadian Congress of Labour and served as the founding president of the Canadian Labour Congress, created by the merger of the two labour bodies, from 1956 to 1966.

He was offered a seat in the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent in 1956 but turned it down.^[3]

Despite his earlier involvement with the Liberal Party, Jodoin supported the decision by the Canadian Labour Congress to work with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in order to found the New Democratic Party in 1961. Speaking in 1960, he said "The Congress, and I as its president, believe that the need for a new party is greater today than it was even a year and a half ago.^[4] Speaking to the NDP's founding convention, Jodoin said "A labour movement that is without interest in political matters is a labour movement that is evading one of the most fundamental responsibilities."^[5]

[edit] References

^ Claude Jodoin, "The Challenge of 1963" in The Empire Club of Canada Speeches 1962-1963, edited by Douglas Best, R. Ford Ralph and R. J. Wood (Toronto, Canada: The Empire Club Foundation, 1963) pp. 122-130 (accessed 3 November 2006).
^ Ross Lambertson, ""The Dresden Story": Racism, Human Rights, and the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada", Labour/Le Travail, No. 47 (Spring 2001) (accessed 3 November 2006).
^ Biography at the Assemblée nationale du Québec (in French) (accessed 3 November 2006).
^ Quoted in A Labor Party for Canada", The Western Socialist, Vol. 27 - No. 212 (1 November 1960), pg. 12-13 (accessed 3 November 2006).
^ Quoted in Bill Tieleman, "Libs Cling to Big Lie That Labour Funds NDP", Straight.com Vancouver, 3 November 2005 (accessed 3 November 2006).