Gerald Caplan

Caplan, Gerald Lewis

Gerald Lewis Caplan, political administrator, historian (b at Toronto 1938). Educated at U of T and London U in history, Caplan wrote one of the best books to have appeared on the CCF Party, The Dilemma of Canadian Socialism (1973), a study that sprang from his university friendship with Stephen LEWIS. He taught history at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education from 1967 to 1977, worked as a close adviser to Lewis in Ontario politics, and served as CUSO's director in Nigeria from 1977 to 1979. Caplan returned to Canada and worked for Toronto's Health Advocacy Unit, and then became national director of the NDP in 1982 and campaign director in 1984.

In 1985 the Mulroney government named him to co-chair the Task Force on Broadcasting Policy, which reported the next year with a strongly nationalist series of recommendations. A long-time advocate of quality education, Caplan was selected to co-chair the Ontario Royal Commission on Education in 1993.