McLeod, Thomas H. (1918-)

Thomas McLeod

Saskatchewan Archives Board R-A5335

Thomas McLeod, born on August 11, 1918, in Weyburn, associated there with T.C. Douglas as a teenager during the early 1930s. After taking a graduate degree in economics from Indiana University, he returned to Saskatchewan in the spring of 1944 to become Douglas’ city organizer for the election campaign and a senior official in the new government. Together with Dr. Mindel Sheps in the Health Service Planning Commission, McLeod helped plan the introduction of hospitalization in 1947. As the first secretary of the Economic Advisory and Planning Board, he was instrumental in hiring a dedicated group of economic advisors and policy planners. He was also key in creating the Budget Bureau, and would himself act as Deputy Provincial Treasurer for two years. Having obtained his PhD from Harvard University during a leave of absence from the public service, McLeod became Dean of Commerce at the University of Saskatchewan in 1952. Following his academic career in Saskatchewan, McLeod went on to do extensive international development work in the Third World—in Turkey with the Ford Foundation, in Iran with the Harvard Advisory Group, and in Nigeria with the World Bank. He was also a senior official with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), where he became advisor to the president on higher education and public administration. McLeod received the Order of Canada and the Vanier Medal in public administration, as well as a number of honorary doctorates from Canadian universities. He is the co-author (with his son Ian McLeod) of Tommy Douglas: The Road to Jerusalem, a major study of Douglas and his government.