Hazen Argue
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Born in Kayville, Saskatchewan, he was first elected to Parliament in 1945 representing the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). When the party nearly was wiped out in the Diefenbaker sweep of 1958, Argue became House Leader, and was elected national leader of the CCF in 1960.
Despite Argue's opposition, a number of leading figures in the CCF, attempting to develop a strategy to rebuild the party, came to advocate relaunching the party on the model of the British Labour Party by creating a formal alliance between the party and the Canadian Labour Congress.
In 1961, Walter Pitman won a stunning by-election victory in Peterborough under the name "New Party". The party was then relaunched as the New Democratic Party. Argue ran for the leadership, but was defeated by long-time Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas at the party's first leadership convention.
Hurt by this rejection, Argue crossed the floor six months later to join the Liberal Party. He was re-elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) in 1962 but defeated in 1963 due to the concerted efforts of his former party.
In 1966, Argue was appointed to the Senate as a Liberal.
When the Liberal Party failed to win any seats in the House of Commons from ridings west of Winnipeg in the 1980 election, Argue was appointed to Pierre Trudeau's Cabinet from 1980 to 1984 as Minister of State (Canada Wheat Board).
Senator Argue faced disgrace in 1988 when criminal charges of fraud were filed against him but he died before the case came to court.
Argue is the only former leader of the CCF or NDP whose portrait is not on the walls of NDP headquarters.
| Preceded by: Major Coldwell | Cooperative Commonwealth Federation/New Democratic Party of Canada leaders 1960-1961 | Succeeded by: Tommy Douglas |
| Preceded by: Thomas F. Donnelly | Member of Parliament for Wood Mountain 1945-1949 | Succeeded by: The electoral district was abolished in 1947. |
| Preceded by: Edward George McCullough | Member of Parliament for Assiniboia 1949-1963 | Succeeded by: Lawrence Watson |