Alan Butterworth Plaunt

Alan Butterworth Plaunt

Alan Butterworth Plaunt, organizer, broadcaster, journalist (b at Ottawa 25 Mar 1904; d there 12 Sept 1941). Born of a wealthy lumbering family, he devoted his life to national unity, public broadcasting, economic reform and pacifism. As cofounder, with Graham Spry, of the Canadian Radio League in 1930, Plaunt was instrumental in mobilizing popular and political support for public broadcasting. He was a leading force in the league until his appointment to the original board of governors of the CBC (1936-40). As a member of the League for Social Reconstruction, he helped draft the Regina Manifesto. He founded the New Canada Movement in 1933 and, as coproprietor with Spry of the Farmers' Sun (1932-35), used the paper to advance the movement's causes, namely a "new deal" for rural peoples. In the late 1930s he helped organize the Neutrality League to promote pacifism and political neutrality for Canada.