It's "Get in touch with your socialist side" (originally "When socialists attack) week here at TC and today I introduce to you Tommy Douglas the "greatest" Canadian ever.
This is totally up for debate but it doesn't detract from the fact that Douglas was an interesting figure in Canadian political history.
As all Canadians know, Lord only knows how much it's fricken drilled into us, Douglas is the father of universal-public-health-care-socialized-medicine in Canada. If anyone ever tells you nothing ever comes out of Saskatchewan they haven't watched 'Corner Gas.' Hey, Gordie Howe and Gordon Tootoosis are a Saskatchewanites. What are the odds of having two "Gordon's" from Sas...I'm tired of typing it.
And of course, it's the birth place of Tommy Douglas and universal health. Actually, Douglas wanted to make sure universal access was available. Diefenbaker kicked it up a notch- whatever. It all ended up being what it is.
One thing I keep reading about was how "opposition to his plan was fierce" but I've yet to find any detailed specifics on this. I would have to go research it in news archives but my university library card expired. So...screwed. One thing I did find was that doctors did strike in protest and that many worried it would lead to substandard quality of care - which to many is a fair assertion.
I'll keep trying.
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By the way, here's an interesting entry on Wikipedia comparing the U.S. and Canadian systems. Don't kid yourself, there's already strong government involvement in the American system.
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