John Rafferty (1953-2019) was an educator, broadcaster, and politician who served as NDP MP for Thunder Bay-Rainy River from 2008 to 2015.
The records reflect election campaigns between 1997 and 2018, and his time in the House of Commons including speeches, clippings, and correspondence with constituents.
The fonds consists of New Democratic Party (NDP) campaign and fundraising material. Reference documents have a national focus; some materials address local candidates and campaigns. Most records are 1980-1987; there is also a small amount of material related to the 2015 federal election.
Frederick O. Robinson was born in Port Arthur, Ontario on Aug. 2, 1903. He attended public and high school in Port Arthur and then served his apprenticeship to the machinist trade in the C.N.R. shops. He worked for 25 years as a skilled machinist in the Port Arthur shops of the C.N.R. until his election to the Ontario legislature in 1943. He continued to work as a C.N.R. machinist between sessions of the legislature, and after his election to the office of mayor, he worked in the C.N.R. shops on weekends.
He entered public life in January 1943 when he was elected to the Port Arthur Board of Education. In August of the same year he was elected to the Ontario legislature as C.C.F. member for Port Arthur. He was M.L.A. for Port Arthur until his defeat in 1951. In civic affairs, he remained on the Board of Education until 1946 when he was elected as alderman. In 1949, he became Mayor of Port Arthur; he remained in this post except for 1952 when he was defeated until 1955 when he resigned to become personnel manager for the Public Utilities Commission. He left active political life at this time. He resigned from the Public Utilities Commission in 1966 because of ill health. In July, 1969, he died.
The Frederick O. Robinson fonds comprises 7 feet of correspondence, clippings, pamphlets, articles and other material and is contained in seventeen transfer cases. The folder titles in the main are those designated by Mr. Robinson. Some re-arrangement of the material has been effected in order to comply with the folder titles. Since the folders themselves were in no apparent order when .they were donated to the university, the following arrangement was thought to be most suitable for research purposes:
I. Pre-1943 Period
II. Political Affairs (relating to the C.C.F.)
III. The Ontario Legislature and Provincial Affairs, 1943-51
IV. Provincial and Local Affairs.
V. Local and Municipal Affairs.
VI. General
VII. Miscellaneous
Records relate to Ernie Epp's work as a professor at Lakehead University, and as an MP and member of the NDP. Includes a significant amount of local and national news clippings, CCF/NDP documents, and House of Commons records.
Douglas Fisher was a politician and journalist from Northwestern Ontario. He served as Member of Parliament for Port Arthur from 1957 to 1965, representing the CCF and then NDP.
These papers largely consist of correspondence from his time as MP, and cover a range of subjects, most notably including: transportation, shipbuilding, shipbuilding industries and the St. Lawrence Seaway; labour; House of Commons documentation; and Canadian Federal Politics in general.