Regina Leader-Post
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The benefits of being under surveillance
Will Chabun
Regina Leader-Post
"It was in the early 1980s that I interviewed Bill Beeching, former leader of the Communist Party of Canada's Saskatchewan section, who confirmed a rumour I'd heard: when he was driving from Regina to Saskatoon in about 1970 for a May Day rally, he lost control of his car and rolled it on Highway 11 near Davidson. It was dark and very cold that night; the Mountie who was tailing him rendered immediate first aid and called for an ambulance. Had he not been under surveillance, Bill admitted, he might have died in that ditch."
Regina Leader-Post
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My name is Don Currie. I am Bill Beeching's son-inlaw having married is step-daughter Sylvia Bradley in 1957. Bill,wife Elsie, Sylvia and I were all active members of the Communist Party during the 1970's when Bill and I were full time functionaries of the CPC. The Party assigned us to duties in Toronto Bill as Editor of the Canadian Tribune the CPC's paper and I was assigned the task of National Organizer of the CPC. Sylvia and Elsie and I went to Toronto and Bill followed. We picked him up at the Toronto Airport and met him at the top of an escalator. He wore his hat at a jaunty angle, smiling at seeing us there, and stepped off the escalator on crutches and a cast on his leg. We sat down and he told the same story as related by Will Chabun. The only thing he added was the comment of the Mountie who said: "What happened Bill? Whenever we followed you we always thought you were a helluva good driver."
ReplyDeleteIf your readers want more information on Bill Beeching it is posted at www.focusonsocialism.ca A book on his leadership role on the left in Saskatchewan and Canada is presently being written by his closest friends and comrades.
Don Currie
Thanks Don!
ReplyDelete