Coldwell, Major James William

Coldwell, Major James William, 1888–1974, Canadian political leader, b. England. He went to Canada in 1910 and became a school administrator in Regina, Sask. He was a leader of the province's Farmer-Labour party (1932–35) and helped to found the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; see New Democratic party), a leftist party. As the CCF candidate, Major (his given name) Coldwell was elected (1935) to the Canadian House of Commons. He was a Canadian delegate to the San Francisco conference in 1945 and to the UN General Assembly in 1946. He became parliamentary leader of his party in 1940 and national president in 1942, holding both posts until 1960. When the New Democratic party was formed in 1961, he became its honorary president. His Left Turn, Canada (1945) discusses the CCF's objectives.