Housewives Consumer Association (1893-1972)

Born and raised on a farm in Arthur, Ontario, Margaret Rae (Morrison) Luckock was the daughter of the founder of the United Farmers of Ontario. After getting married in 1914, she became a wage-earning mother as a seamstress during the Depression. A member of the CCF from its beginning, Luckock ran for the Toronto school board several times before winning the election of 1943. Later that year, she ran successfully as a CCF candidate in Toronto, becoming one of the first two women ever to sit in the Ontario Legislature. She was defeated two years later.
Meanwhile, Rae had become active in the Toronto Housewives Association and was elected its president. In 1948, she led a huge protest to Ottawa in 1948 against rising food prices. She resigned from the CCF that same year when the party ordered her to leave the Housewives Association, which was under attack by red-baiting anti-communists. That organization would eventually go on to assist in the founding of the Congress of Canadian Women in 1950. At its inception, Luckock was chosen to be its president. While in her new role, Luckock was active in promoting world peace.