The attempt to bring medicare to Saskatchewan was the latest in a series of measures adopted across Canada and throughout the western world in the years after the Second World War. The measures were based on the premise that governments owed their citizens a reasonable standard of living and access to basic services.
But Saskatchewan doctors complained that they would be turned into civil servants, unable to follow their own judgment about what was best for their patients. They argued that medicare was another step down a slippery socialistic slope. Douglas was bitterly opposed by the provinces physicians and private health-care insurers.
Douglas would soon leave for Ottawa in to lead the newly formed New Democratic Party, but his provincial successor Woodrow Lloyd would continue the medicare fight. After a long debate, the law was adopted in November , to take effect the following July 1. The day medicare was born, about 90 per cent of the provinces doctors went on strike. Initially the doctors had some public support.
These KOD Keep Our Doctors Committees, with support from the media, launched a well-organized campaign against the government and the medicare plan. Rallies, petitions, panels and advertisements raised the emotional climate to a white heat. The people of Saskatchewan began to worry. Some wondered what good was a medical care program without doctors. To Montreal? A number of social programs, including pensions, unemployment insurance and family allowances, were unveiled or strengthened in the years following the Second World War.
Starting in July , mothers of children under 16 received a monthly family allowance cheque. In , all Canadians over 70 became entitled to a federally funded pension.
Additional programs such as the Canada and Quebec pension plans followed in Unemployment insurance was introduced in Canada in , and expanded in the s and s. The Canada Assistance Plan provided basic levels of income to Canadians during periods of unemployment. Between and , the federal government implemented a nationally funded universal health insurance program that is now known as medicare.
The movement soon evolved into the Farmer Labour Party. The Farmer Labour Party offered hospital care for everyone on an equal basis, including unemployment insurance and universal pension. By July of , the labour parties of the four western provinces formed an alliance under the name Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. The Farmer Labour Party now had something it desperately lacked, the backing of a national movement.
In , Douglas made his first foray in the Saskatchewan provincial election. Although he lost, this sparked an internal flame which could not be extinguished. In , Douglas was elected into parliament under the CCF. This was a time of great turmoil for Canadian politics. Nearly all the provincial governments had been tossed out of office as Canadians turned to anyone who promised to lead them out of the troubled times. Along with Douglas, there were only four other members of the CCF caucus.
At the tender age of 31, the young Douglas impressed the House of Commons with his fiery, yet relevant, speeches. The CCF, with only five seats, did not have much political clout, but that did not stop Douglas from fighting for legislation to support the western provinces. Canada had successfully financed a war against a foreign aggression but could not do the same against poverty.
In his two terms in cabinet, Douglas often argued that Ottawa had no effective western farm policy. The CCF, a socialist party, had begun to build momentum at this time. By the early s Douglas began to move away from Federal politics after being frustrated with the slow legislation and lack of progress. In , the CCF, under Douglas, won the provincial election to become the first socialist government in North America.
Saskatchewan listened. In , the old age pension plan included medical, hospital and dental services. In his first four years in government, Douglas paid off the provincial debt, created a province wide hospitalization plan, paved the roads, and provided electricity and sewage pipes to the common man.
In , when time for a re-election had come, opponents took advantage of the cold war and the widespread fear of communism. Douglas fought back with radio telecasts, a medium which he could reach the public with his oratory skill. If you let them fool you once, shame on them.
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