John Edward (Ed) Broadbent (born
March 21,
1936) is a
Canadian politician and political scientist. He was leader of the federal
New Democratic Party from
1974 to
1989. Under his leadership, the party reached its highest number of seats (43) in the
1988 federal election. When Broadbent stepped down after 15 years as federal leader of the NDP in 1989, he was succeeded by
Audrey McLaughlin. Broadbent was director of the
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development[?] from 1989 to
1996.
He has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Toronto (1965).