Kenneth Bryden

Walter Kenneth (Ken) Bryden (April 9, 1916 – December 17, 2001) was a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation/NDP member of the Ontario legislature from 1959 to 1967, an economist, academic, civil servant and author.

Background Bryden was one of two sons born to Walter Bryden, a Presbyterian minister and theologian, and his wife, Violet Naismith Bannatyine.

He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1959 provincial election representing the riding of Woodbine in Toronto's east end and became deputy leader of the party under Donald C. MacDonald. He was re-elected in 1963 before retiring in 1967. As a Member of Provincial Parliament, Bryden advocated the creation of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, opposed the creation of the Provincial Sales Tax and supported expansion of Toronto's subway system. Using their own money, Bryden and his federal counterpart Andrew Brewin opened the first constituency office in Canada.

As a political strategist, Bryden introduced the concept of door-to-door canvassing to Canada, which soon became a standard technique for all parties. Historian Desmond Morton once characterized him as "the shrewdest political mind in the party."

Later life After leaving the legislature, Bryden earned his PhD at the University of Toronto and then joined the faculty and taught political economy at the University of Toronto until his retirement in 1984. He remained active in community life, serving as president of the Confederation of Resident and Ratepayers Associations and lobbying against the bulldozing of neighbourhoods to create high-rises and expressways and, in the mid-1990s, lobbied against the amalgamation of the city of Toronto.