Ed Broadbent, former NDP leader, dead at 87

Longtime New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent, who moved the party further to the left and up in the polls, has died at 87.

The Broadbent Institute, which he founded, announced his death in a statement Thursday afternoon.

«Our country has lost a fierce champion for ordinary Canadians, an intellectual who strongly believed in building a good society,» the statement said. «Ed devoted decades of his life to fighting for justice and equality in Canada and around the world.»

John Edward Broadbent, a companion of the Order of Canada, was known to New Democrats as «Honest Ed,» «Mr. Decent» or simply «Ed,» Broadbent led the NDP for 14 years and through four elections — and even returned to the House of Commons later in life.

While he failed to realize his dream of forming the Official Opposition, over his 20-plus years in federal politics he helped to establish the NDP as a viable option for voters disenchanted by years of Liberal and Conservative governments. He was also the first leader of the New Democrats to see his party rise to first place in public opinion polling.

The second of three children, Broadbent was born in Oshawa, Ont. in 1936.

While his childhood in the union-oriented, blue-collar city would become the stuff of NDP lore, he formed his democratic socialist views after leaving home. His father, a clerk at General Motors, and his homemaker mother were both steadfast conservative voters.

After a stint in academics, during which he wrote his PhD thesis on utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill, Broadbent began his political career with the nascent NDP in 1968 when he won the riding of Oshawa—Whitby, a region he'd go on to represent for more than two decades.

He first ran for the party leadership in the 1971 race to