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

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

s in 1962 in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

in an attempt to force the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

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 Saska ...

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

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 The Saskatchewan Legislature is made of two elements: the lieutenant governor as representative of the King of Canada, and the unicameral assembly called the Legislative Assembly. The legislature has existed since Saskatchewan was formed out of ...

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; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

and was replaced as provincial premier and CCF leader by

Woodrow Lloyd Woodrow Stanley Lloyd (July 16, 1913 – April 7, 1972) was a Canadian politician and educator who served as the 8th premier of Saskatchewan from 1961 to 1964. Born in Saskatchewan in 1913, he became a teacher in the early 1930s. He worked as ...

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 a broadsheet newspaper published in Regina, Saskatchewan, owned by Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Lieutenan ...

'' was undertaken, with warnings that most doctors would leave the province if

socialized medicine Socialized medicine is a term used in the United States to describe and discuss systems of universal health care—medical and hospital care for all by means of government regulation of health care and subsidies derived from taxation. Because of ...

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 term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

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 public healthcare. The strike's 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 Progress Party (SPP) is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was founded in 1905 as the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan, and retained that name until members voted to change it in 2023. Until 20 ...

Ross Thatcher Wilbert Ross Thatcher, (May 24, 1917 – July 22, 1971) was a Canadian politician who served as the ninth premier of Saskatchewan from 1964 to 1971. Thatcher began his career as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1942, elect ...

had opposed the plan, Medicare's popularity was such that by the time of the election Liberals promised to not only leave it in place, but to expand it even more. The Saskatchewan CCF government and the doctor's strike was portrayed in the film Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story (2006).

Background

Strike

Response of government

Outcome and legacy

References

See also