Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Broadbent, Ed
Parallel form(s) of name
- John Edward Broadbent
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1936-
History
Ed Broadbent was born March 21, 1936 in Oshawa, Ontario. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 1966 and studied at the London School of Economics. He joined the Politics Department at York University in 1965 and was elected to the House of Commons in 1968 as a member of the New Democratic Party in the Whitby-Oshawa district. In 1975 he was made party leader, a position he held until 1989. In 1989 he resigned as leader and was replaced by Audrey McLaughlin. Broadbent served as president of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development from 1990 to 1996. In 1993, Broadbent was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was promoted to Companion of the Order in 2001. In 2004, federal NDP leader Jack Layton persuaded Broadbent to return to politics and run for a seat in the federal election. Broadbent defeated the Liberal candidate and close ally of Paul Martin, Richard Mahoney, for the riding of Ottawa Centre. As a member of the NDP shadow cabinet, he was the critic for democracy (parliamentary and electoral reform, corporate accountability and child poverty). In 2005, he announced that he would not seek re-election.