re: #52 Blind Frog Belly White

It’s quixotic and doomed to fail, but “I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.”

“And we’re just the guys to do it!”

Did you know single-payer in Canada began in just one province?

Beating out Terry Fox, Pierre Trudeau, and Frederick Banting to be named the Greatest Canadian in a CBC poll is quite an accomplishment.

Tommy Douglas — who was at times labelled a “Red” and a “Communist” by his political opponents — won the honour largely for his belief that every Canadian deserved the right to have quality health care, regardless of their economic or social situation.

This conviction likely stemmed from his social gospel roots in Manitoba, and continued during his days as Premier of Saskatchewan and later as leader of the federal NDP.

“The Father of Medicare” saw his Medicare plan enacted in Saskatchewan in 1962 and later by the federal Pearson government in 1966. His social activism inspired many Canadians from coast to coast, including a conservative-minded history student from Nova Scotia.