D. M. LeBourdais

Donat Marc LeBourdais (1887 - November 8, 1964) was a Canadian non-fiction writer and political activist. He wrote eight books during his lifetime, including six on Canada's economic history, a financial investment guide and a biography of explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson.[1]

D.M. LeBourdais
Born1887
Clinton, British Columbia, Canada
DiedNovember 8, 1964(1964-11-08) (aged 77)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationWriter (novelist)
NationalityCanadian
Period20th century
GenreHistory, non-fiction
SubjectEconomics
Spouse
​
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(m. 1942⁠–⁠1964)​

Born in Clinton, British Columbia and raised in Barkerville, he worked for the Yukon Telegraph Service before moving to Ottawa in 1919.[1] He founded the shortlived journal Canadian Nation, before joining a press syndicate to report on Stefansson's expedition to Wrangel Island.[1] He moved to Toronto in 1926, and began to write for periodicals including the Canadian Geographical Journal, Maclean's, Empire Review, Saturday Night and The Beaver.[2] During World War II, he was also employed as an administrator with the Wartime Prices and Trade Board.[1]

As an activist he was the founding executive secretary of the National Railway League, an organization formed to defend public ownership of the Canadian National Railway,[3] and served on the boards of the National Committee on Mental Hygiene and the Mental Patients Welfare Association.[4] He ran for election to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1935 federal election as a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate in the electoral district of High Park, but lost to Alexander James Anderson.[5]

He married journalist Isabel LeBourdais in 1942. Isabel was noted for her 1966 book The Trial of Steven Truscott.[6] They raised four children. Their grandchildren include Mark LeBourdais, a musician who was associated with the band King Apparatus in the 1990s.

Works
  • Northward on the New Frontier (1931)[7]
  • Canada's Century (1951)[8]
  • Why Be a Sucker? Invest in Canada (1952)[9]
  • Nation of the North: Canada Since Confederation (1953)[10]
  • Sudbury Basin: The Story of Nickel (1953)[11]
  • Metals and Men: The Story of Canadian Mining (1957)[12]
  • Canada and the Atomic Revolution (1959)[13]
  • Stefansson: Ambassador of the North (1963)[14]

References
  1. "D. M. LeBourdais: Explorer's Friend Author of 8 Books". The Globe and Mail. November 9, 1964. p. 4.
  2. "Canada An Unfinished Country". Swan Valley Star and Times, May 17, 1962.
  3. "Proposed League Pledges Defense Of C.N.R. System: New Organization Will Answer Hostile and Unfavorable Attacks on Publicly Owned Railways". The Globe and Mail, February 11, 1936.
  4. "Whitby Patient Held Behind Bars, Says LeBourdais". The Globe and Mail, October 1, 1949.
  5. "Parties Name Nominees in 169 Seats Today". Lethbridge Herald, October 7, 1935.
  6. "Name Isabel LeBourdais Most Newsworthy Woman". Brandon Sun, December 24, 1966.
  7. "Miscellaneous Topics Provide Grist for Authors' Literary Mills". Winnipeg Free Press, December 5, 1931.
  8. "Rich Northern Resources Index to Canada's Future". The Globe and Mail, April 28, 1951.
  9. "Invest Wisely". The Globe and Mail, October 11, 1952.
  10. "Books received". Winnipeg Free Press, December 19, 1953.
  11. "Rocky Sudbury Sustained By Vast Mineral Wealth". The Globe and Mail, December 19, 1953.
  12. W.T. Easterbrook and M.H. Watkins, Approaches to Canadian Economic History. McGill-Queens University Press, 1967. ISBN 9780773591240. p. 277.
  13. "Canada leader or satellite?" Lac du Bonnet Springfield Leader, January 19, 1960.
  14. "Stefansson: Ambassador of the North by D.M. LeBourdais". Ottawa Citizen, December 7, 1963.
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