Charles Ballram

Charles Hubert Ballam (May 10, 1901 – December 12, 1981) was a Canadian union leader and politician from Newfoundland who served as the province's Minister of Labour from 1949 to 1966.

Early life and family

Ballam was born on May 10, 1901 in Curling, Newfoundland Colony to Manoah Ballam and Alice (née Wheeler). He was educated at the high school in Curling. Ballam served in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during World War I.

Following the war, Ballam moved to Grand Falls and worked as an apprentice electrician at the pulp and paper mill owned by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company. The couple had one son, Ulric, who was killed in an accident at the pulp and paper mill in Corner Brook in 1945. Ballam and his wife established a memorial scholarship in Ulric's memory which is awarded annually to a first-year undergraduate engineering student at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Labour activism

Ballam became active in the labour movement in 1929.

Newfoundland National Convention

In 1946, Ballam was elected to the Newfoundland National Convention as one of the two delegates for the Humber district alongside Pierce Fudge, another popular labour leader. The convention had been convened by the United Kingdom as a means to decide the political future of the Dominion of Newfoundland which was then under a British-led Commission of Government.

At the convention, Joey Smallwood felt he could count on Ballam for support for the motion he planned to introduce early in the convention calling for a delegation to Ottawa to discuss potential terms of union between Canada and Newfoundland. When the motion was introduced, Ballam supported its adoption, but he insisted his neutrality on the matter: I am not a Confederate and not supporting any particular form of government; but in the interests of the whole country I would like to see something definite done on this question once and for all. Even though Smallwood failed in his first attempt to have such a delegation appointed, he was successful later in the convention. Ballam voted in favour of both resolutions, and was elected as one of the delegates to go to Ottawa to explore terms in June 1947.

In preparation for the amalgamation of several communities in the Bay of Islands into Corner Brook, a bridge named after Ballam was built to connect the two sides of the bay across the Humber River. The Ballam Bridge opened on October 31, 1955, and Ballam himself was the ceremonial ribbon-cutter.

Later life

Smallwood announced Ballam's retirement from politics in 1966 and appointed Clyde Wells as his successor for the Labour portfolio. The decision had been made without Ballam's consultation, but he later admitted that he would have probably agreed to retire regardless. He was subsequently appointed as a member of the board of the Newfoundland and Labrador Power Commission. He died on December 12, 1981.