Edward Oliver LeBlanc

Edward Oliver LeBlanc
1st Premier of Dominica
In office 1 March 1967 – 27 July 1974
Deputy	Nicholson Ducreay Ronald Armour
Succeeded by	Patrick John
Chief Minister of Dominica
In office 21 January 1961 – 1 March 1967
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Frank Baron
Personal details
Born	(1923-10-03)3 October 1923 Vieille Case, Dominica
Died	29 October 2004(2004-10-29) (aged 81) Vieille Case, Dominica
Political party	Dominica Labour Party
Spouse	Ethel Patrick ​ (m. 1949)​

Edward Oliver LeBlanc (3 October 1923 – 29 October 2004) was a Dominican politician. He served as the chief minister of Dominica from January 1961 to 1 March 1967 and as the first premier of Dominica from 1 March 1967 to 27 July 1974.

Early life

LeBlanc was born on 3 October 1923 in Vieille Case, a village on the north coast of Dominica. Growing up in a rural environment, where the village was not connected to the rest of the island by roads, significantly shaped his political leanings. Later in life, LeBlanc would often speak about his own informal education, which led to his contempt for those he considered intellectuals. He attended the local government school and then studied agriculture at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (now part of the University of the West Indies) in Trinidad, graduating in 1944. He joined the civil service in Dominica, working as an agricultural instructor, and often travelled through the rural portions of the island. He later began working for the Dominica Banana Growers Association. In 1949, he married his wife Ethel and the couple had five children: Ewart, Erin, Einstar, Earlsworth and Eustace.

Political career

LeBlanc joined the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) in 1957, which had been established on 24 May 1955 by Emmanuel Christopher Loblack and Phyllis Shand Allfrey. He was elected to the Legislative Council in the 1957 general election to represent the constituency of Portsmouth, beating R. B. Douglas with 46.9% of the vote. Douglas was a powerful adversary, as a businessman who controlled trade between Portsmouth and the capital in Roseau, but LeBlanc captured public interest due to his charisma and for campaigning in patois. Despite LeBlanc's success, the DLP suffered many losses in its first election, including Allfrey's loss to Elkin Henry.

Inauguration of the West Indies Federation in 1958

When Dominica joined the nascent West Indies Federation the following year, LeBlanc resigned from the legislative council and ran in the March 1958 federal elections to represent Dominica in the federation's legislative body, the Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation. He was elected alongside Allfrey, with both DLP candidates receiving the most votes in the election. The federation – composed of ten member states, including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the former members of the Windward Islands – was intended to strength relationships in the region and was considered by some politicians to be a step towards independence. The union was shortlived and the federation dissolved in 1962.

LeBlanc returned to Dominica in 1960 after resigning from the Federal Parliament. Ahead of the 1961 general election, Allfrey challenged LeBlanc for leadership of the DLP on the basis of their ideological split; LeBlanc was pushing for independence from the British Empire and increased separation from the Dominica Trade Union while Allfrey preferred changes within the existing colonial structure. LeBlanc won the leadership and expelled Allfrey and, later, Loblack from the party. In the election on 17 January 1967, he won one of the eleven seats in the legislature. The DLP was challenged in the election by the Dominica United People's Party (DUPP), which had been founded by R. H. Lockhart and Frank Baron the same year. The DLP won 47.5% of the vote and 7 seats in the legislature, with the DUPP winning 25.6% of the vote and 4 seats. This was the party's first major electoral victory and LeBlanc was sworn in as the chief minister and minister of finance.

Chief minister (1961 – 1967)

In 1960, LeBlanc helped to promote the country's National Day as a cultural festival, with dance, music and art contests. This focus on cultural nationalism was crucial to LeBlanc's legacy. He was a strong champion for the Kwéyòl language, the local Creole dialect, and often used it in his campaign meetings.

Newly constructed Layou Valley Road in the late 1950s

LeBlanc was often frustrated by leading a country still under colonial British rule. During the early 1960s, he was focused on infrastructure development as much of the island was still unconnected by roads but the colonial administrators refused to build any major roads as they claimed not to have the funds, although they would build feeder roads. In response, LeBlanc created a system to build a roads system in sections to avoid it being defined as a major road and succeed in building a road to connect the coastal villages.

In the 1966 general election, the DUPP were soundly defeated by the DLP, retaining only one seat in the legislature, and following the resignation of Baron, the party dissolved. The DLP was essentially without an opposition party between 1961 and 1968. There was a popular tale in Dominica during LeBlanc's time in power that he could run a broomstick as a DLP candidate and still win the election.

Premiership (1967 – 1974)

In March 1967, when the British granted Dominica associated statehood, LeBlanc became the first premier. LeBlanc tried to implement socialist policies in the country and he was committed to helping poor workers, whom he called "little men", a catchphrase that still remains in Dominican politics. His focus on rural citizens was frequently contrasted with his contempt for those that he considered elite, notably those from Roseau who had historically held political power. LeBlanc was described by the writer Selwyn Ryan as "a radical populist who sought to govern Dominica on behalf of the black masses. He was a man of the people and a leader to whom the masses and the petit bourgs had ready access and who could speak their language".

The DLP received its first challenge since the dissolution of the DUPP in 1968, when a speech criticising the government for supposed communist policies was reported in the Dominica Herald. A group of newspaper editors, including Allfrey of the Dominica Star, Stanley Boyd of the Chronicle and Edward Scobie of the Herald, increased their criticism of a government that faced no significant political challenge. The government, led by LeBlanc, reacted by passing legislation intended to restrict media criticism, the Seditious and Undesirable Publications Act, which was nicknamed the "Shut-Your-Mouth Bill". These editors, led by the barrister Eugenia Charles, founded a group called the Freedom Fighters, composed of upper-class merchants and professionals. The Freedom Fighters held rallies and infiltrated the House of Assembly to disrupt debates on the legislation but despite these efforts, the act was passed. A petition to repeal the act received over 3,000 signatures and led to a rally on 23 September 1968, where LeBlanc was said to have stated, "We are here to rule and rule we will". Although the act was not repealed, the law was never enforced and several leaders of the Freedom Fighters, including Charles, Allfrey and Loblack, joined together to form a new political party, the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP), to contest the 1970 general election.

The 1970 elections were the first under Dominica's new political system. Aside from facing a challenge from the new DFP, LeBlanc was confronted by dissent within his own party. Ahead of the election on 26 October 1970, LeBlanc was challenged by three of his ministers – Nicholson Ducreay, W. S. Stevens and Mabel Moir James – who intended to remove LeBlanc from the DLP on the basis that he was an autocrat. In response, LeBlanc established the LeBlanc Labour Party only days before the election and won eight of the eleven seats in the legislature, with the DLP retaining one seat and the DFP picking up two seats. LeBlanc was elected to the North-Western constituency with 1,537 votes.

LeBlanc stepped down as the DLP leader in July 1974. He then resigned his position as premier and his seat in the House of Assembly by sending a letter of resignation to the governor Louis Cools-Lartigue two weeks later, on 27 July 1974. Patrick John, who had won a party convention to replace LeBlanc as party leader, was sworn in as premier two days later. There are several theories as to why LeBlanc decided to resign, including that he was influenced by the economic or political position in the country, as the 1970s oil crisis impacted finances and the youth and Rastafarian movements began to gain traction, or that he was impacted by colonial politics.

Death and legacy

He returned to Vieille Case after his resignation from government, where he died on 29 October 2004 at the age of 81.

References

Sources

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• Barriteau, Eudine; Cobley, Alan Gregor (2006). Enjoying Power: Eugenia Charles and Political Leadership in the Commonwealth Caribbean. University of the West Indies Press. ISBN 978-976-640-191-7.
• Grell, Francis Carlton (March 1976). Politics of Survival and Change in Dominica, 1763–1973: An Interpretation of the Political Life Experience of Dominicans in the Colonial and Post-Colonial Situation (PhD thesis). McMaster University.
• Honychurch, Lennox (1995). The Dominica Story: A History of the Island. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-0-333-62776-1.
• Midgett, Douglas (2006). "The Creole Master". In Jones, Adam (ed.). Men of the Global South: A Reader. Zed Books. ISBN 978-1-84277-513-4.
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