Origins
The CCF aimed to alleviate the suffering of the Great Depression through economic reform and public "co-operation". Many of the party's first Members of Parliament (MPs) were former members of the Ginger Group of left-wing Progressive and Labour MPs. These MPs included: United Farmers of Alberta MP William Irvine; Agnes Macphail, MP; Ted Garland, MP; Humphrey Mitchell, MP; Abraham Albert Heaps, MP; Angus MacInnis, MP; J.S. Woodsworth. Also involved in the plans to found a new party were members of the League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) such as F.R. Scott and Frank Underhill. It can be said that the CCF was founded on the 26th of May 1932, when the Ginger Group MPs and LSR members met in William Irvine's office, the unofficial caucus meeting room for the Ginger Group, and went about forming the basis of the new party. J. S. Woodsworth was unanimously appointed the temporary leader until they could hold a convention. The temporary name for the new party was the "Commonwealth Party."
At its founding convention in 1932, the party settled on the name "Co-operative Commonwealth Federation - (Farmer-Labour-Socialist)" and selected J.S. Woodsworth as party leader. Woodsworth had been an Independent Labour Party MP since 1921, and a member of the Ginger Group of MPs. The party's 1933 convention, held in Regina, Saskatchewan, adopted the Regina Manifesto as the party's program. The manifesto outlined a number of goals, including: Public ownership of key industries; Universal pensions; Universal health care; Children's allowances; Unemployment insurance; Workers compensation.
It concluded that "No CCF Government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation the full programme of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Co-operative Commonwealth."
Read more about this topic: Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
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