Clarence Gillis

Who was Clarence Gillis?

Clarence Gillis, MP was a Canadian social democratic politician and trade unionist from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. He was born on Nova Scotia's mainland, but grew-up in Cape Breton. He worked in the island's underground coal mines operated by the British Empire Steel and Coal Company. He also served as a member of the infantry in the Canadian Corps in Flanders during the First World War. After the war he returned to the coal mines and became an official with the mine's United Mine Workers of America union. In 1938, he helped bring UMW Local 26 into the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, becoming the first labour local to affiliate with the party. In 1940, he became the first CCF member elected to the Canadian House of Commons, east of Manitoba. While serving in the House, he was known as its leading voice championing labour issues. He was also a main voice for social rights during his 17-years in Parliament. His most notable achievement was securing the funding that allowed the building of a fixed-link between Nova Scotia's mainland and Cape Breton Island at the Strait of Canso: the Canso Causeway. After winning four-straight elections, he was defeated in 1957 and died three-years later in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.