Oshawa will name a waterfront park to recognize the many contributions Ed Broadbent has made to public service.
During the September 23 Council Meeting, City Council approved the naming of the park at the southeast corner of Harbour Road and Simcoe Street as ‘Ed Broadbent Waterfront Park’. A plaque will also be installed at the park to recognize Broadbent’s commitment to the city and public service.
Broadbent – educator, advocate and political icon – was born in Oshawa in 1936 and raised in the city. After graduating first in his class in philosophy at the University of Toronto in 1959, he did postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics and obtained his doctorate in political science from the University of Toronto in 1966.
Broadbent was elected to Parliament as the NDP Member for Oshawa in 1968 and served as the MP until 1989. From 1975 to 1989, he was also Leader of the New Democratic Party.
Between 1979 and 1990, he was a Vice-President of the Socialist International. From 1990 to 1996, he was the founding President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development in Montreal.
Broadbent was made a member of the Privy Council in 1982, an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993 and a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2002.
The official naming of Ed Broadbent Waterfront Park and unveiling of the plaque is planned for spring 2020.
“Ed Broadbent has created a better and more compassionate Canada through his decades of work as an advocate, educator and revered politician,” said Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter. “We are honoured to commemorate his legacy and his contributions to Oshawa with the naming of Ed Broadbent Waterfront Park.”