17 Facts About James Laxer

James Laxer's father was Jewish and his mother was from a Protestant family.

James Laxer wrote about his experiences growing up during this period in his memoir Red Diaper Baby: A Boyhood in the Age of McCarthyism.

James Laxer's father came to serve as a significant influence on his political worldview.

James Laxer's paternal grandfather was a rabbi and his maternal grandfather was a minister and Christian missionary to China, where Laxer's mother was born.

James Laxer received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Queen's University.

James Laxer was an active student journalist both at The Varsity at the University of Toronto and later at the Queen's Journal and was elected president of Canadian University Press in 1965.

James Laxer married Diane Taylor in 1965, from whom he was divorced in 1969.

James Laxer was a producer at CBC Radio for This Country in the Morning with Peter Gzowski, and then created and was executive producer of CBC Radio's Morningside program with Don Harron.

James Laxer committed suicide by drowning at Niagara Falls in 1978.

James Laxer was a principal author of their Manifesto for an Independent Socialist Canada in 1969 alongside Ed Broadbent and Gerald Caplan.

In 1971, James Laxer ran for the leadership of the federal NDP and shocked the convention by winning one-third of the vote on the fourth and final ballot against party stalwart David Lewis.

James Laxer hosted The Real Story, a nightly half-hour current affairs program on TVOntario in the early 1980s.

James Laxer variously wrote a column and op-ed pieces for the Toronto Star from the 1980s until shortly before his death, as well as op-ed pieces for The Globe and Mail.

James Laxer played "Talleyrand", a mock political insider, on CBC Radio's Morningside in the 1980s.

James Laxer co-wrote and presented the five-part National Film Board documentary series Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada in 1986, which examined Canada's economic and political relationships with the United States and Canada's place in the changing global economy.

James Laxer wrote extensively about the influence of American multinational corporations in the Canadian economy, particularly in the oil and gas industry, and his agitation helped lead to the creation of Petro-Canada.

James Laxer died suddenly and unexpectedly in Paris of heart-related problems on 23 February 2018 while in Europe researching a book on Canada's role in the Second World War.