Basil Eldon "Buzz" Hargrove was born on March 8,1944 and is a Canadian labour leader and the former National President of the Canadian Auto Workers.
28 Facts About Buzz Hargrove
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Buzz Hargrove is currently serving as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University's Ted Rogers School of Management.
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Buzz Hargrove succeeded Bob White as president of the CAW in 1992.
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In 1998, Buzz Hargrove co-authored the book Labour of Love: The Fight to Create a More Humane Canada with Wayne Skene.
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Buzz Hargrove has received honorary doctorates from the University of Windsor in 2003, from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2004, from the University of New Brunswick in 2008, and from Queen's University in 2009.
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Buzz Hargrove is seen as a proponent of social unionism, and his supporters claim that he has steered the CAW to become a more activist union.
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Buzz Hargrove is married to Denise Small, a mediation officer for the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
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Buzz Hargrove was the leading advocate of tactical voting in the 1999 Ontario provincial election.
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Buzz Hargrove proposed this approach in an attempt to defeat the Progressive Conservative Party government of Mike Harris.
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Buzz Hargrove was a long-time critic of federal NDP leader Alexa McDonough, calling for her resignation on several occasions.
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Buzz Hargrove criticized McDonough for her effort at modernizing federal NDP policy, which involved moving towards the political centre and adopting "Third Way" policies.
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Buzz Hargrove stated repeatedly that NDP should move to the left instead.
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Buzz Hargrove instead endorsed CAW lawyer Joe Comartin who placed fourth.
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Buzz Hargrove was initially much more publicly supportive of McDonough's successor, Jack Layton, and the CAW unequivocally supported the federal NDP in the 2004 federal election.
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Buzz Hargrove reportedly played a role in bringing Prime Minister Paul Martin and Jack Layton together to negotiate a budget agreement to keep the federal Liberal government in power in exchange for including NDP proposals in the 2005 federal budget.
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Buzz Hargrove echoed his earlier criticism of McDonough by suggesting that Layton, too, was not sufficiently moving the party to the left.
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Buzz Hargrove publicly stated that "ideology does not matter" when the reporter asked about his position.
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Buzz Hargrove's strategy caused some controversy among long-time NDP activists and union members who saw him as reneging on core labour and left-wing values.
19.
Some pointed out that Buzz Hargrove's call for strategic voting has caused financial harm to the NDP under Canada's system of public financing for federal elections, which pays a subsidy to each federal party based on their popular vote.
20.
On January 18,2006, Buzz Hargrove made a widely criticized speech at a Liberal rally in Ontario where he urged voters in Quebec to vote for the Bloc Quebecois in preference to the Conservatives, calling Conservative leader Stephen Harper's view of Canada "a separatist view" and recommending "anything to stop the Tories".
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Buzz Hargrove afterwards argued that strategic voting had prevented the Conservatives from forming a majority government and suggested that the three main opposition parties could form a coalition to get several key pieces of legislation passed.
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Buzz Hargrove stated he was "shocked and surprised" by this decision, but he would not apologize for his actions during the 2006 election nor would he commit not to endorse candidates for other parties in the future.
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On February 23,2006, Buzz Hargrove confirmed that he would not appeal the Ontario NDP executive body's decision.
24.
On December 9,2005, Buzz Hargrove confirmed that he would seek a sixth and final three-year term as CAW President at the union's convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, in August, 2006.
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Buzz Hargrove was to be 62 years old at the time of the upcoming CAW convention.
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Buzz Hargrove characterized the dispute as a "wildcat" strike and criticized the workers involved, describing the situation as a "powder keg" that threatened other auto workers jobs.
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Buzz Hargrove again went further to slam both the NDP and its leader, Howard Hampton.
28.
On February 27,2009, Buzz Hargrove replaced Eric Lindros as the NHLPA ombudsman on an interim basis.