Edited by Gregory P. Marchildon (University of Toronto Press). In the conclusion, historian Heather MacDougall rightly notes that “[h]istory matters, especially with regard to health policy, because health is fundamental to all to societies and their citizens.” And within Canada, history and health policy also directly connect with notions of national identity. As many popular and political surveys have demonstrated, a defining feature of Canada, as compared with our neighbour to the south, is its publicly funded universal health care system. Similarly, Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan premier who in the 1940s developed the blueprint of what would become a nationwide health care programme, typically tops opinion polls as Canada most significant Canadian. Making Medicare is a book that powerfully reminds us of all these important matters.
The 18 essays that comprise this volume examine medicare both from a national perspective (including a delightfully illustrated study using political cartoons from the 1940s to 1980s) and from selected provincial points of view. Historical analyses of Saskatchewan events are supplemented by those from Newfoundland (cottage hospital system), Alberta (Hoadley Commission 1932–34), British Colombia (beginning with “Bennettcare” and the BC Hospital Insurance Service) and Quebec (the “disappointing experiment” of state and for-profit hospital partnerships). Rounding out the book are several first-person oral histories by political and administrative personalities such as Allan Blakeney and Roy Romanow, which provide additional valuable insights to the broader historical trends dealt with by Making Medicare. In brief, this single book encapsulates the latest in historical thinking on Canadian medicare.