Looking back: 50 years after Saskatchewan's medicare crisis

CBC News
Posted: Jul 11, 2012

People supporting doctors in the medicare crisis rallied at the legislature on July 11, 1962. 

It's been 50 years since a pivotal event in the evolution of Saskatchewan's health care system. 

At the height of the "medicare crisis," on July 11, 1962, about 4,000 people attended a pro-doctor rally at fhe provincial legislature.

Doctors, some who stated medicare would make them employees of the state, had gone on strike earlier in the month when the province's Medical Care Insurance Act became law.

The rally, which organizers hoped would attract 40,000, turned out to be a turning point in the crisis, as CBC Saskatchewan network producer Sean Prpick explains.

Related Stories Medicare adopted in Saskatchewan 50 years ago 

Knowlton Nash reports on medicare crisis HERE.