Michael Douglas

Michael Douglas was a Dominican politician who was born in 1940. He was the father of former Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Labour and Immigration, Ian Douglas. He was also the brother of the fifth Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt “Rosie” Douglas.

Douglas graduated in Production Engineering from the United Kingdom. He served in the Royal Air Force in Cyprus and Aden among other places. A fluent English and Creole speaker, he joined politics and campaigned in the 1975 general elections against the Dominica Freedom Party government. He served as a minister under the government of Prime Minister Patrick John but was dismissed in 1978, a development that prompted him to begin to reveal the corruption in the government.

Michael Douglas represented the Portsmouth constituency in the House of Assembly in 1975 and also served as a cabinet minister. He was the Minister of Finance in Dominica from 1979 to 1980. He later became the party leader for the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) and ultimately the leader of the Opposition. He assisted with crafting the foreign policy of the DLP and contended at the party’s 1986 convention that Dominica would never become a toy or puppet to any super-powers.

Douglas was instrumental in moving Ross University to Portsmouth and also getting the medical institution firmly established in Picard. He also worked hard to enable the government to secure 35 acres of land at Sugar Loaf Estate so that the Chance housing estate could be constructed for poor folks. He also helped homeless people to squat on government land in Chance.

Douglas died in 1992 after a protracted battle with cancer. The Michael Douglas Boulevard in Portsmouth town is named after him.