The NDP’s greatest achievement was bitterly condemned at the time. It contributed to the party’s defeat in the next election.
The subject has some broad lessons for my internationalist, anti-capitalist, insurgent campaign to lead the NDP. The first lesson is you can win even if you lose. Another lesson is if you confront entrenched power, be it around the party or more generally, expect bitter condemnation.
Tommy Douglas is considered the father of Medicare. As premier of Saskatchewan, Douglas introduced universal medical coverage. But it wasn’t until his fourth term as premier. It was a response to social groups, which established community clinics, pressing the issue. My closest aunt’s father, Stan Rands, played a central role in winning Medicare, which is detailed in his posthumously published Privilege and Policy: A History of Community clinics in Saskatchewan (available for free at the link). The book details the fight to win public health insurance. It notes, “There is a familiar chant you hear at New Democratic Party rallies, naming the patron saints of medicare: Tommy Douglas and Woodrow Lloyd, with a nod to some of the national big names such as Justice Emmet Hall and, more recently, Monique Begin. But if you read the story of medicare only through the feats of these people you will get a ‘laundered’ version of history. The real heroes of medicare in Saskatchewan were the hardline socialists who put iron into the political will of the CCF-NDP and kept them from caving in to the international medical lobby.”
As the book notes, the American Medical Association funded opposition to universal health insurance in Saskatchewan. US doctors viewed medicare in Saskatchewan as a threat to their control over US healthcare.
After years of pressure against proposed health reforms, doctors withdrew their services and launched a massive public relations campaign when the government introduced its long-promised health improvements. The political opposition denounced the government and the dominant media went berserk. As part of the research for The Year We Became Us: A Novel About the Saskatchewan Doctors Strike my father, Gary Engler, examined the Moose Jaw Times Herald’s coverage of the subject. It was unhinged, particularly during the doctors’ 23-day strike to block Medicare and other health reforms that weakened their power over medicine.
In its first edition after the doctors strike began The Moose Jaw Times Herald had a lead editorial with the headline “The Day That Freedom Died In Saskatchewan”. It noted, “the doctors fight for freedom is our fight, every single one of us—and make no mistake about it.” That story claimed, “the people of Saskatchewan are now awakening and find that their province has been slowly, and in recent months much more rapidly transformed from a free democracy into a totalitarian state, ruled by men drunk with power.”
The next day the paper published “Ugly Image of Dictators” then “Neutrality Never Won Any Fight For Freedom” and a little later came “Legal Profession Next to be Socialized.”
Fortunately, the CCF (NDP predecessor) government remained steadfast, and the doctors lost their battle against universal health insurance, which was extended to the rest of the nation a few years later (unfortunately the Saskatchewan doctors won several concessions, notably fee-for-service billing).
This history offers some insight for my candidacy to lead the NDP: Expect backlash and it’s possible to ‘win’ even if you ‘lose’.
My participation in a race, which has yet to officially begin, has already pushed the discussion to the left. Last Thursday we put out a release calling for “converting Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) properties into housing cooperatives, and removing the profiteers from the industry entirely.” Written by the communications team, it quoted me saying, “we are going to take profiteers out of the housing industry. Homes are for people to live in, not for corporations to profit from.”
The next day NDP housing critic Jenny Kwan put out a statement echoing our language and criticizing REITs. It noted, “Housing is a human right, not a luxury for investors to make quick profits. We cannot allow large financial firms, similar to the ones that Prime Minister Carney used to work for, to continue treating people’s homes as commodities to be bought and sold for maximum profit.”
On Tuesday the Financial Post published a commentary explicitly defending REITs. It what appears like a response to our release it noted, “Pushing for-profit players out would be a monumental mistake. … Replacing the profit motive with public provision would require governments — municipal, provincial and federal — to assume a financial and operational burden they cannot realistically carry.”
The campaign’s aggressive challenge of Canada’s complicity in genocide, including substantial leafletting on the issue, has also pushed the other candidates to be more vocal and bold on Gaza. As our full policy platform is rolled out in the coming days, the pressure on the other candidates to more forthrightly challenge our unjust economic and political system hurtlingly us to ecological ruin will only grow. When the campaign submits our nomination signatures and the first instalment ($25,000) of the $100,000 required to participate in the race, the spotlight on the campaign will grow even greater.
If we were to win the leadership of the party, the potential to bring a discussion of economic democracy into the national conversation would be massive. But we don’t need to win government to make a better world.
To assist or learn more about my bid to lead the NDP check out yvesforndpleader.ca
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