Finn was born in Spaniard's Bay, Newfoundland and raised in Corner Brook. His father worked at the Bowater's paper mill during the Great Depression. In 1942, Finn joined his father at the paper mill at the age of 16 and worked there for four years. He went into journalism working for Corner Brook's local newspaper, The Western Star from 1946 to 1953, when he went to work for the Montreal Gazette for two years before returning to the Star as editor.
Logger's strike
Under his stewardship The Western Star sympathetically covered the Newfoundland logger's strike of 1958-59. Finn later wrote of the period "It was such a heated and emotionally charged labour dispute that journalistic objectivity was simply not tolerated... you were either with the paper companies and the government, or you were with a gang of mainland union thugs, which was how the International Woodworkers' of America leaders were unfairly depicted." Newfoundland PremierJoey Smallwood responded to the labour dispute by introducing legislation to decertify the International Woodworkers of America and also used police to harass picket lines. Finn, as editor of the Western Star, war ordered by the newspaper's publishers to report only the company's and government's side of the dispute. As a result, Finn and two other journalists quit the newspaper. He and two friends started their own newspaper, The Newfoundland Examiner with Finn as publisher and editor and devoted the journal to uncovering government and business corruption. The newspaper was unable to attract advertising revenue and folded after a year.
Political career
As a result of the strike, labour unions with the support of the Canadian Labour Congress founded the Newfoundland Democratic Party in 1959 in an attempt to give political expression to the growing workers movement and in an attempt to channel worker opposition to the Liberal government of Joey Smallwood. The new party absorbed the small Newfoundland section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and anticipated the 1961 founding of the New Democratic Party of Canada by the Canadian Labour Congress and the CCF. After being fired by his publisher, Finn was hired by the Canadian Labour Congress and persuaded to lead the Newfoundland Democratic Party into the 1959 provincial election. Smallwood sent his Minister of Labour, Charlie Ballam, to run against Finn in Humber West. Finn came within less than 300 votes of defeating Ballam. He remained leader of the Newfoundland Democratic Party, which became the Newfoundland New Democratic Party, until 1963 and ran in the 1962 provincial election as well as for the federal NDP in Humber—St. George's in the 1962 and 1963 federal elections but was unable to win a seat in either the Newfoundland House of Assembly or the House of Commons of Canada.
Later career
In 1963, Finn resigned as NDP leader and moved to Ottawa to accept a position with the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers. He remained with that union until 1980 when he and three other union staffers were dismissed after they refused to open mail during a strike by the union's clerical staff. He then joined the Canadian Union of Public Employees with whom he remained until his retirement in 1991. Finn also wrote a weekly labour column for the Toronto Star from 1968 until 1982 and has also contributed articles to various publications. He has worked for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives since 1993 and is currently editor of its monthly journal, The CCPA Monitor. The CCPA has published several collections of Finn's essays in three books, The Right is Wrong and the Left Is Right - Cutting through the Neoliberal Bafflegab, Under Corporate Rule and Who Do We Try to Rescue Today?. The CCPA publishes books, research studies, reports, and provides media commentary. Its flagship publication is the CCPA Monitor which was founded and previously edited by Ed Finn.
