The Saskatchewan doctors' strike was a 23-day labour action exercised by

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the ...

s in 1962 in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nort ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

in an attempt to force the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialistThe foll ...

government of

to drop its program of universal medical insurance. The strike was from July 1, the day the Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Act took force, to July 23.Larmour, Jean
"Saskatchewan Doctors' Strike"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', accessed March 17, 2008

Background

The Medicare plan was announced by

Premier of Saskatchewan The premier of Saskatchewan is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The current premier of Saskatchewan is Scott Moe, who was sworn in as premier on February 2, 2018, after winning the 2018 Saskat ...

Tommy Douglas Thomas Clement Douglas (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian politician who served as seventh premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Baptist min ...

in 1959 at a speech he made during the Birch Hills by-election campaign.Marchildon, Gregory P.
"Doctors' Strike"
m ''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan'', accessed March 18, 2008 It was the main issue of the 1960 provincial election, which was won by his

government. A commission was struck by the government to make recommendations for the plan's implementation and was met with opposition by the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons, which testified that doctors would not co-operate with a compulsory, government-run plan. The Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Bill was introduced in the Saskatchewan legislature on October 13, 1961 and was passed and given

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

in November. By then, Douglas had stepped down as premier in order to assume the leadership of the newly formed federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

and was replaced as provincial premier and CCF leader by Woodrow Lloyd who was to face enormous pressure to withdraw the plan. In an attempt to reach a compromise, Lloyd delayed the implementation of Medicare from April to July 1962.

Strike

In May 1962, a meeting of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan passed a resolution vowing that physicians would close their practices when Medicare came into force. "Keep Our Doctors" committees were established throughout the province and a campaign, backed by the ''

Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is the daily newspaper of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and a member of the Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, ...

'' was undertaken, with warnings that most doctors would leave the province if socialized medicine were introduced.Boan, Joan A.
"Medicare"
''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan'', accessed March 18, 2008 On July 1, 1962, the doctors strike began and approximately 90% of the province's doctors shut their offices.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, accessed March 16, 2008 During this time, anonymous letters signed by "the Swift Current citizens safety committee" accused doctors of rebelling against the people, and gave doctors until the morning of July 6 to return to normal practice or suffer harm to them and their families. This led to the death by heart attack of threat recipient Dr. Emil John Kusey of Canora, on July 5.

Response of government

The government brought in doctors from Britain, the United States, and other provinces to staff community clinics that were set up to meet demand for health services. A July 11 rally in support of the doctors in front of the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina attracted about 4,000 people, one tenth the number hoped for by the organizers. By mid-July some of the striking doctors returned to work. Lord Taylor, a British physician who had helped implement the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in the United Kingdom, was brought in as a mediator and the "Saskatoon Agreement" ending the strike was signed on July 23, 1962. As a result of the agreement, amendments to the Act were introduced allowing doctors to opt out of Medicare and raising fee payments to doctors under the plan and to increase the number of physicians sitting on the Medical Care Insurance Commission. By 1965, most doctors favoured the continuation of Medicare.

Outcome and legacy

The strike was a significant test for Medicare. Its failure allowed the program to continue and the Saskatchewan model was adopted throughout Canada within ten years. The political divisions within the province aggravated by the strike contributed to the Lloyd's government defeat in the 1964 provincial election.Quiring, Brett
"Thatcher, Wilbert Ross"
''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan'', accessed March 18, 2008 However, even though the

Saskatchewan Liberal Party The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The party was the provincial affiliate of the Liberal Party of Canada until 2009. It was previously one of the two largest parties in the provin ...

Ross Thatcher Wilbert Ross Thatcher, (May 24, 1917 – July 22, 1971) was the ninth premier of Saskatchewan, serving from May 22, 1964 to June 30, 1971. He led the Saskatchewan Liberal Party in four general elections, in 1960, 1964, 1967 and 1971. Thatcher ...

had opposed the plan, Medicare's popularity was such that by the election the Liberals promised to not only leave it in place, but expand it even more.

Background

Strike

Response of government

Outcome and legacy

References

See also