Mel Hurtig facts for kids

Mel Hurtig OC (1932–2016) was a well-known Canadian publisher, author, and political activist. An activist is someone who works hard to bring about social or political change. Mel Hurtig was also a political candidate. He believed strongly in Canadian nationalism, which means he wanted Canada to be a strong, independent country. He also wrote several books that shared his ideas about Canadian government policy. He was the president of the Edmonton Art Gallery.

Early life and education

Mel Hurtig was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on June 24, 1932. His parents were Jewish; his father came from Romania, and his mother from Russia. He grew up in Edmonton and finished high school there.

Businessman, publisher and author

In 1956, when he was 24, Mel Hurtig opened a bookstore called Hurtig Books. It was on Jasper Avenue in Edmonton. This bookstore grew into a large business with three locations. His stores were unique because they hosted plays and poetry readings. They also encouraged people to socialize and even allowed them to drink coffee while they looked at books.

After selling his bookstores in 1972, he started a new company called Hurtig Publishers Ltd. He borrowed $30,000 to begin. This company quickly became one of the most exciting book publishing companies in Canada.

In 1980, Mel Hurtig started working on a huge project: The Canadian Encyclopedia. He spent $12 million to create this detailed, three-volume encyclopedia about Canada. It was first published in 1985. A second edition, which took four years to make and cost $8.5 million, came out in four volumes in 1988.

In September 1990, Hurtig published the five-volume Junior Encyclopedia of Canada. This was the first encyclopedia made especially for young Canadians. He sold his company to McClelland & Stewart in May 1991.

Mel Hurtig received many honors for his work. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He also received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from six Canadian universities. He was given the Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Peace Award.

Politics and activism

Mel Hurtig became interested in politics in 1967. He supported Pierre Trudeau when Trudeau was running to become the leader of the Liberal Party. In 1972, Hurtig ran as a Liberal candidate in the federal election for the area of Edmonton West. He finished second in that election.

In 1973, he left the Liberal Party. He joined other Canadian nationalists like Walter Gordon and Claude Ryan. Together, they created the Committee for an Independent Canada (CIC). This group worked to reduce foreign ownership in Canada and protect Canadian culture. Mel Hurtig was the Chair of this committee for its first year.

In 1985, five years after the CIC ended, Hurtig started another nationalist group called the Council of Canadians. This organization's main goal was to fight against the idea of free trade. Free trade means countries can trade goods without extra taxes or rules. Mel Hurtig was very proud of starting the Council of Canadians. He left the council in 1992, but it still exists today. Now, it focuses on social, environmental, and economic fairness instead of just nationalism.

In 1992, Mel Hurtig was chosen as the leader of the National Party of Canada. He led the party in the 1993 federal election. He ran in the area of Edmonton Northwest. He received 4,507 votes, which was 12.8 percent of the total votes. He finished third in that race. However, he had the best result of all the National Party candidates in that election. He was the only National Party candidate to finish ahead of an existing Member of Parliament.

Death

In 2005, Mel Hurtig moved from Edmonton to Vancouver, British Columbia. He wanted to be closer to his four daughters. He died in a hospital in Vancouver on August 3, 2016. He passed away due to problems from pneumonia. On the day he died, one of his daughters read him newspaper headlines about a new investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women. He responded, "Bravo," and died that afternoon, surrounded by his family. Besides his daughters, Mel Hurtig was also 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
• 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal (1992)
• Canadian Version of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002)
• Canadian Version of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)

Selected works

• Nationalism and Continentalism, a speech from 1981
• The Betrayal of Canada, 1991
• A New and Better Canada, a policy statement for the National Party of Canada
• How to solve Canada's economic mess without raising personal taxes or increasing the debt (official platform document for the National Party of Canada in the 1993 election).
• 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