Introduction
Mel Hurtig, OC (24 June 1932 – 3 August 2016) was a Canadian publisher, author, political activist, and political candidate. He was president of the Edmonton Art Gallery, and a noted political activist who wrote several books critical of the Canadian government and its various policies.
Early life and education
Hurtig was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1932. His parents were Jewish; his father was from Romania, and his mother from Russia. He grew up in Edmonton, was an alumnus of the Edmonton Talmud Torah, and graduated from high school there.
Businessman, Publisher and Author
Hurtig worked in his father's store, selling furs, until 1956. He then opened a book store, Hurtig Books, which later grew into a large retail book operation with three locations. His stores featured staging of plays, readings of poetry, and encouraged social interaction, and, unusually, permitting drinking coffee.
After selling his stores in 1972, he established Hurtig Publishers Ltd., with $30,000 in borrowed money. It became "one of the liveliest book publishing companies in Canada." In 1980, he started work on The Canadian Encyclopedia, spending $12 million on a comprehensive three-volume national encyclopedia first published in 1985. A second edition, which took four years to complete and cost $8.5 million to produce, appeared in four volumes in 1988. Much to the surprise of the publisher, the second edition was unexpectedly sold at up to a 55% discount by national companies, roiling the market.
In September 1990, Hurtig published the five-volume Junior Encyclopedia of Canada, the first encyclopedia for young Canadians. He sold the company to McClelland & Stewart in May 1991.
Hurtig was an Officer of the Order of Canada, was granted honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from six Canadian universities, and was the recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Peace Award.
Politics
After supporting Pierre Trudeau's bid for Liberal leadership, he ran as a Liberal in the federal riding of Edmonton West, in 1972 and finished second to longtime incumbent Marcel Lambert.
In 1973, he broke with the party and joined with other nationalists including Walter Gordon, Jack McClelland, and Claude Ryan to establish the Committee for an Independent Canada (CIC) which lobbied against foreign ownership and cultural imperialism. He served as Chair for the first year.
In 1985, Hurtig established the Council of Canadians, another nationalist organization, five years after the demise of the CIC. The primary purpose of this organization was to lobby against a perceived rising tide of support for free trade. He considered his establishment of the Council as the act he was "most proud of." He would leave in 1992 but the council survives to this day.
In 1992, Hurtig was elected leader of the National Party of Canada and led it in the 1993 federal election. He ran in the riding of Edmonton Northwest, but with 4507 votes and 12.8% of the popular vote, finished a distant third to Anne McLellan. It was nonetheless the best showing of the National Party candidates in that election.
Electoral record
| Canadian federal election, 1972: Edmonton West | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative | Marcel Lambert | 29,876 | ||||||
| Liberal | Mel Hurtig | 21,040 | ||||||
| New Democratic | John Packer | 6,770 | ||||||
| Social Credit | Donald H. McLeod | 1,419 | ||||||
| Canadian federal election, 1993: Edmonton Northwest | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| Liberal | Anne McLellan | 12,599 | ||||||
| Reform | Richard Kayler | 12,587 | ||||||
| National | Mel Hurtig | 4,507 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative | Murray Dorin | 3,485 | ||||||
| New Democratic | Stephanie Michaels | 1,671 | ||||||
| Natural Law | Ric Johnsen | 186 | ||||||
| Green | Roger Swan | 119 | ||||||
| No affiliation | Heide Zeeper | 41 | ||||||
Death
In 2005, Hurtig moved from Edmonton to Vancouver, British Columbia, in order to be closer to his four daughters. On 3 August 2016 he died there at a hospital, from complications from pneumonia. On the day of his death, one daughter, Leslie Hurtig, read him "newspaper headlines about the launch of the inquiry into murdered and missing women"; he responded, "Bravo", and died that afternoon, surrounded by family. In addition to his daughters, Hurtig was survived by four grandsons.
Recognition
- Canadian Book Publisher of the Year, 1974 and 1981
- Made an Officer of the Order of Canada, (1980)
- Honorary LL.D. degrees from York University (1980), Wilfrid Laurier University (1985), University of Lethbridge (1986), University of Alberta (1986), Concordia University (1990), University of British Columbia (1992)
- Eve Orpen Award for Publishing and Literary Excellence, 1985
- Silver Ribbon Award, City of Edmonton, 1985
- Centenary Medal, Royal Society of Canada, 1986
- Alberta Achievement Award, 1986
- Toastmasters International Communications and Leadership Award, 1986
- President's Award, Canadian Booksellers Association, 1986
- Quill Award, Windsor Press Club, 1986
- Speaker of the Year Award, Canadian Speech Communicators Association, 1986
- Corporate Citizen of the Year Award, Community of Business and Professional. Associates of Canada, 1988
- Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Peace Award 1988
- Order of Canada citation
- "Mel Hurtig Wins Publishing Award," The Jewish Star (Edmonton), July 1985, p. 2
Selected works
- Nationalism and Continentalism, 5 November 1981 speech at the Empire Club of Canada
- The Betrayal of Canada, 1991
- A New and Better Canada, policy statement for the National Party of Canada
- At Twilight in the Country/Memoirs of a Canadian Nationalist, 1996
- Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids, 2000
- The Vanishing Country, 2002
- Rushing to Armageddon, 2004
- The Truth About Canada, 2008
- The Arrogant Autocrat: Stephen Harper's Takeover of Canada, 2015