CCF/NDP MP
Born in Kayville, Saskatchewan. His family owned a farm, which he worked until he entered the House of Commons. He was first elected to Parliament in 1945 representing the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He was, at the time, the youngest MP, at the age of 24. When the party was nearly wiped out in the Diefenbaker sweep of 1958, Argue managed to hold on to his seat, and remained the only CCF MP from Saskatchewan. Party leader M.J. Coldwell lost his seat, and the CCF parliamentary caucus elected Argue as their House Leader. When Coldwell resigned as the national CCF leader in 1960, Argue succeeded him when he was elected leader at the party's last convention in the summer of 1960.
At the time, the CCF was engaged in a three-year plan to create a new party from the union between itself and organized labour forces as represented by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). Both the CCF and CLC executives approved going down this route starting in April 1958. Argue, like many grassroot CCFers, were not convinced that this merger was necessarily the best route to revitalizing the party. As an organizing tool during this period, the organization was called the New Party. New Party clubs sprung up around the country during 1958-1961. On October 31, 1960, Walter Pitman won a stunning by-election victory in Peterborough running as a New Party candidate. This gave credibility to the forces organizing to remodel the CCF along the British Labour Party model. Argue became a candidate in the race to be the first leader of the newly formed NDP at their August 3, 1961 leadership convention. He was up against long-time Saskatchewan Premier, and CCF favourite-son, Tommy Douglas. Douglas had the support of the CLC, its president Claude Jodoin and CCF president David Lewis. Douglas easily defeated him 1,391 votes to 380 votes on the first and only ballot. In his concession speech, Argue stated that, "No matter what my role is in the years ahead, I shall speak for you. I shall work for you, I shall never let you down." He remained in the party's caucus, in the House of Commons, for the rest of the year, having little contact with Douglas in those months.
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