Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it's doing in the Maritimes.

The War Measures Act 1970
The October 1970 Quebec FLQ Crisis put Douglas and David Lewis – now a Member of Parliament – on the "hotseat" with Lewis being the only NDP MP with any roots in Quebec. After setting up Saskatchewan's medicare program he stepped down as premier and ran to lead the newly formed federal New Democratic Party the National CCF's successor party. Douglas successfully held the title the following year.

Although he never led the party to government through much of his tenure the party held the balance of power in the House. His government was the first democratic socialist government in North America and it introduced the continent's first single payer universal health care program. He died in 1986 after a battle with cancer.