He was born on February 20, 1900, in
St. Thomas,
Ontario. While a student at the
University of Manitoba, he became an editorial writer at the
Manitoba Free Press, where he was mentored by editor and Canadian nationalist
John W. Dafoe. He also edited the student newspaper,
The Manitoban. He then studied history at
Oxford University as a
Rhodes Scholar. Upon his return to Canada, he became Secretary of the
Canadian Clubs, and organized a nationwide broadcast to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of
Canadian Confederation. The accomplishment, achieved despite the lack of a national radio network, convinced
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to appoint the
Aird Commission on Radio Broadcasting, a
royal commission which recommended the creation of a national broadcaster. Following the defeat of King's government Spry and
Alan Plaunt formed the
Canadian Radio League to rally support behind the Aird Commission's recommendation, arguing that it amounted to a choice between two alternatives, "the State or the United States". The league mobilized public opinion in both English- and French-speaking regions of Canada, and convinced the
Conservative government of
R. B. Bennett to form the
Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, which later became the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A socialist, Spry cofounded the
League for Social Reconstruction (LSR), contributed to the writing of the
Regina Manifesto, and purchased both the ''
Farmer's Sun (publication of the United Farmers of Ontario), renamed the New Commonwealth
, and the Canadian Forum'' to propagate the LSR's views. He was the first national
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate in Ontario, running in the 24 September 1934 by-election in
Toronto East. He ran again for the national CCF in the
1935 general election, this time in the newly created
Broadview electoral district. He lost on both occasions to Conservative
Tommy Church. During the
Spanish Civil War Spry helped organize medical support for the
Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion that fought on the
Republican side. In 1938, Spry married
Irene Mary Biss. Unable to find work in Canada because of his socialist convictions, however, Spry accepted a job offer from an old Oxford friend and served as a British-based executive for
Standard Oil from 1940 to 1946, managing subsidiaries operating in the
Middle East and elsewhere. From 1942 to 1945, he also served as personal assistant to Sir
Stafford Cripps, a
Labour minister in the
wartime British
cabinet, and travelled with Cripps to India. After the war, Spry was named agent-general of
Tommy Douglas's
CCF government in
London representing the province of
Saskatchewan from 1946 to 1968 in Britain, including responsibility for Europe and the Middle East. Spry played a crucial role during the 1962
Saskatchewan doctors' strike against
Medicare by recruiting British doctors to move to the province. In 1968 he reactivated his involvement with broadcasting, founding the
Canadian Broadcasting League over which he presided until 1973. In 1970, Spry reputedly turned down Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau's offer of a
Senate seat. That same year, he was made a Companion of the
Order of Canada. Graham Spry died in Ottawa on November 24, 1983. == Building ==