How Did Tommy Douglass Benefit Canada

Thomas Clement “Tommy” Douglas (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) known as “The Father of Medicare”, had done extraordinary work to make Canada a unique country. The problems he faced with short term helped to greatly benefit Canadians in the long term. The experience Douglas had from when he was a child to when he finishes his studies, influenced him to join politics and help millions of Canadians. In 1944, Tommy Douglas became the premier of Saskatchewan and helped raise Canada’s reputation in front of the whole world by introducing new laws and regulations.

Tommy Douglas’s own childhood experience led him to join politics and help millions of Canadians by introducing Medicare system in Canada. In 1910, Douglas injured his right knee and

By 1924, Douglas enrolled in Brandon College, where he was exposed to and embraced the Social Gospel. He also got involved in church work and by 1930, the church offered him a permanent ministry. Douglas used to preach on Sundays and spent the rest of the week running relief programs to help ease the growing hardship of farmers and families. When Saskatchewan got hit by economic depression and drought, communities like Weyburn suffered tremendously. Douglas knew that his relief efforts were important, but not enough for the difficulties families face. In later years, he buried two young men who died because they couldn’t afford medical care, which only strengthened his belief that he could do more as a politician than from the pulpit. These incidents, his relief camps along with his experience of the great depression led him to conclude that political action was necessary in order to alleviate the suffering he saw around him. In 1932 he joined the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) political party marking his first step towards

He and his party Co-operation commonwealth foundation (CCF) was innovative and efficient and developed over 100 bills during their first term. Just two years into their mandate, the CCF had eliminated the sales tax on food and meals and reduced the provincial debt by $20 million. They re-organized the education system and created significant trade union legislations and rights for workers. His social welfare department increased old age pensions, mothers allowance and welfare benefits. They improved working conditions, raised the minimal wage, established mandatory holidays and created the labor relation boards. Over 4 years, union membership more than doubled. In 1944, the CCF’s passed the farm security act, which protect farmers from foreclosure and repossession of their assets. The most significant innovation he did was introduce Canada’s first universal hospital insurance program, which prompted the federal government to make this national health care. When Douglas stepped down from as a premier to lead the newly formed federal successor to the CCF, the new democratic party of Canada (NDP), the newly elected prime minister John Diefenbaker, decreed in 1958 that any province seeking to introduce a hospital plan would get 50 cents on the dollar from the federal government. By 1966, The liberal minority government of Lester B. Pearson created a program in which the federal