Father of medicare

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Several individuals may be recognized as "father of" the Canadian system of universal public medicare:

  • Tommy Douglas forwarded public health insurance as Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and federal leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. Although Douglas is often credited as the "father of Medicare" he referred to Emmett Hall as Canada's "father of Medicare". Saskatchewan's first "father of health care" was Dr. J.M. Uhrich, the Minister of Health in the 1920s when the first tax funded health care programs were introduced at the municipal level and when Saskatchewan developed free medical treatment for those with tuberculosis. Saskatchewan's health system was one of public insurance helping privately run hospitals, similar to Ontario's current system.[citation needed] Alas, lack of private for profit hospitals resulted in the Romanow government replacing Saskatchewan's successful Freidman style system with a full public hospital system[citation needed].
  • Emmett Matthew Hall was a jurist and chair of the 1964 Royal Commission on health care in Canada which recommended the nationwide adoption of Saskatchewan's system of public insurance for both hospitalization and out-of-hospital medical services. In 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien stated that “Canadians will be forever grateful for the pivotal role that he (Hall) played in bringing universal medicare to Canada. Throughout his long life, he remained medicare's most eloquent defender”.[citation needed]
  • Paul Joseph James Martin, Minister of National Health and Welfare from 1946 to 1957, played a central early role in the adoption of hospital insurance and is also remembered as a father of Medicare.
  • Lester B. Pearson was Prime Minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. His government saw medicare introduced on a national basis for hospital and out-of-hospital treatment.

This list includes individuals from three major distinct and competing Canadian political traditions: Douglas from the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Hall, a Progressive Conservative, and Martin and Pearson, Liberals.