Kiefer Sutherland slams politicians for using his famed grandfather's name to push agendas

Kiefer Sutherland is calling out two prominent Canadian politicians.

The Designated Survivor star, whose grandfather on his mother’s side was Tommy Douglas — the premier of Canadian province Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971— wrote an open letter to current politicos Doug Ford, the Ontario premier, and Lisa MacLeod, Ottawa Member of the Provincial Parliament (MPP), asking them to stop using Douglas’s name to push their agendas.

In the letter, posted on social media, the 53-year-old actor highlighted some of his grandfather’s accomplishments and noted he “did it all within four years.”

However, he added, “Contrary to your argument, it was never at the expense of social and human services to those in need. I personally find your comparison of your policies to his offensive.”

He requested, “As the grandson of this man, for you to stop posting his picture and using his name as part of your political agenda. After all, I knew Tommy Douglas and you Sir, are no Tommy Douglas.”

Sutherland’s posted ended by saying, “You're lucky my mum,” actress Shirley Douglas, is “not active on Twitter.” (The star’s father is acting legend Donald Sutherland.)

Tommy Douglas, who died of cancer in 1986 at the age of 81, was a minister when he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1935. His cabinet was known for being the first social democrat government in North America. It introduced the continent’s first state-run universal health care program. Douglas is considered the father of socialized medicine in Canada. A remember of Parliament until 1979, he was named the The Greatest Canadian by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 2004.

Sutherland received applause for his tweet, including from his 24 and Designated Survivor co-star Kal Penn, who worked in the White House under Obama.

However, MacLeod responded to Sutherland’s post by taking a jab at him.

“I used to like his show... It’s more difficult to be a politician than pretend to be one on TV,” she wrote of the actor, who plays the president of the United States on his Netflix show.

A press secretary for Ford told the CBC that his PC party is “proud” of their financial record and “15 years of waste and mismanagement.”

Sutherland has long spoken out about politics. When Trump was running for president, he told the CBC that it was “one of the most extraordinary — and I do not mean that in a positive way — [campaigns] that I think I've seen in a very long time.”

In that same interview, Sutherland revealed that he actually can’t vote in Canada or the U.S. That’s because he’s not a resident of Canada, living in the U.S. instead, because that’s where he works. He’s never opted to become a U.S. — and has no plans to.

"I'm a Canadian," he said. "I have had a fantastic time [in the U.S.] but I've been down in the States primarily because this is where the work that I wanted to do was and my daughters were born here, so that's made that more complicated. But I've always felt I was Canadian and that's who I am and I have no interest in changing that."

However, he added, he gets back to Toronto as much as he can to visit his 85-year-old mother.

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