While healthcare is an often-debated topic in provincial and federal politics, what many overlooked is the birth of the universal healthcare system, which was a birth of great pain and effort.
In 1962 Saskatchewan, doctors actually threatened to strike to resist the move to a publicly supported healthcare plan.
Arms flew into the air, and the editorial pages, back rooms, churches and social groups all sprang forward to defend or attack the move.
Out of interest, and motivated as well by the fact I hadn't spent any time in the archives in far too long, I decided to examine the latter half of 1962 (the healthcare act came into effect on July 1,) by looking at the 27 issues of the Carlyle Observer that came out in those months.
The Observer of old is definitely not The Observer of today. Local news pieces were almost entirely stuck on the front page, with the local happenings columns liberally sprinkled throughout the rest of the paper.
Ads, of course, also look incredibly different. They were often very sparse, by the modern reckoning, and the prices of things illustrate the great inflation the dollar has seen over the intervening decades.
It was in the June 14, 1962 issue (volume 26, number 1) of The Carlyle Observer where the pages begin screaming about the healthcare act.
The title of the paper, The Carlyle Observer, is below joined by a pleasant greeting.
"And the Town that extends a cordial welcome to Tourists and Visitors to its Lake Resort," the sub-line reads.
Under the headline 'Letters To The Editor' the furious responses to the new legislation are represented.
In the first letter, titled simply 'To The Editor,' the writer begins by saying "Look what the CCF Government has done for Saskatchewan! This government which claims to have such a 'social-conscious' platform, that is striving so sincerely to supply its people with the care and protection they need, has made the worst blunder to date. . . They have now created a provincial disaster with the introduction of a Medicare Plan not acceptable to the providers."
I think it is fair to say this first writer was not at all happy with the new act.
The second letter is titled, 'Re: Compulsory Gov't Medical Care Insurance.'
"The current crisis resulting from Medicare legislation is fast coming to a "head," . . . something has to give. With emergency services being set up, doctors leaving and doctor's offices closing for July, it should be apparent to government officials that they are not "bluffing.""
The third letter, titled like the first as 'To The Editor,' was generally in favour of the healthcare plan, stating instead that the opposition to the plan had more to do with political opposition than any real, rational argument.
It is ironic all these years later to think about the passions that were stoked by the issue of introducing universal health insurance.
Some polls now suggest that, if any issue could invoke a riot in Canadians, it would be the cancellation of universal healthcare.
As it turned out, despite the doctor's strike ending within a month of it starting, the rage against the healthcare plan continued to fill the editorial columns of the paper in the latter half of 1962 right up to the December issues.
Carlyle was even visited by a British parliamentarian and doctor who had vocally opposed the adoption of the public health system in Great Britain.
Ostensibly visiting to promote his latest book on the issue of socialized healthcare, this doctor made sure to congratulate many of the bodies, including the Carlyle chapter of the 'Keep Our Doctors' (KOD) committee, a province-wide body that sought to fight the institution of universal healthcare because it would scare away all of the doctors, for their hard work in defending 'quality healthcare.'
While the issues surrounding healthcare continue to dominate the headlines from time to time, it is funny to see that the question of healthcare not being asked as it once was, whether there should be healthcare offered universally through a government insurance scheme or not, but rather whether this should be the only option available to the general public.
