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| Speaker I beg to inform the House that.... |
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| Dear Mr. Clerk I have recieved the results of the pending by-election for the electoral district of Yorkton. The election was issued after the riding was delcared vacant as the member hath been recalled. The writ was dropped for a by-election held on February 28th, 1945. My office has delcared that Mr. Fred Northwood has been returned as the duely elected member for the said district of Yorkton. This information has been filed in my office on February 28, 1945. Signed, Jack Martin Chief Electoral Officer, Saskatchewan |
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| The health system in Saskatchewan has numerous follies, however it has some gaps that are most interesting and show experimentation that has resulted in better healthcare for select areas. Within the private healthcare system, there has been many programs at the municipal levels that are a crude version of a medicare system. At the beginning of this report in 1944, the hospital services in this province were mostly operated by citizens and municipalities. Starting in 1920, many municipalities retained the services of a salaried general practitioner, and at a later date entered into contracts with medical specialists. By 1944, almost a quarter of Saskatchewan’s population was covered by municipal doctor plans, some even paid local hospital insurance plans. Co-operative associations and the organized medical professional itself had inaugurated medical-care insurance plans. As this report continues, it will establish answers to the following questions: Where do the gaps in the medical system lie? How much were people prepared to pay for? How can the government find new revenues to pay for health services? The gaps in the medical system in Saskatchewan are the citizens that receive no coverage from the medical system as a result of the private insurance companies. The majority of citizens receiving a low income, particularly farmers, have little to no medical coverage at all. This is a result of the high cost of medical insurance and the common belief that many do not need insurance. The case is, however, that many people do need medical coverage due to any sickness or illness. With a hospitalization plan in place, many have the ability to receive care in a hospital; to get the immediate care that they need from nurses, however when it comes to dentists, chiropractors, pharmacists, and a lack of services for the mentally ill, there are many gaps in the system. There is a common belief among both the medical profession and the public at large, that no one is turned away for lack of medical insurance. This is not true. While doctors do not usually turn patients away, they usually assign a collection agent to people who cannot pay their bills. In these cases, non bill payers are usually not covered at all. This commission recommends that a medicare system be established in Saskatchewan.There is a great belief in this province that a medicare system is needed. The response to the hospitalization plan introduced in 1945 by the Ministry of Public Health has been met with great popularity among the general population. Simply paying money to hospitals is not advised to continue though. It is highly recommended that the Ministry of Public Health introduce legislation to moderate and administer hospitals by the state. While state run hospitals will be beneficial, it is also recommended that the state run it as a decentralized system. It is the belief of this commission that the Ministry should establish 14 public health boards to maintain and administer hospitals locally. Not only will it free up resources in Regina, it will allow for local issues to be addressed more properly. One other major benefit is that it will give the freedom of local health zones to develop and experiment with medicare plans while the provincial government prepares a province wide system. As a medicare system is developed, it should meet certain goals and points that this commission feels is necessary to a successful system. This commission recommends the following: Under the scheme, medical bills should be prepaid . Patients should never see a doctor’s bill. The plan must be universal. It must cover everyone, regardless of age or physical condition. The launching of a medicare plan should go along with conditioning improvements in other areas of the health service. It should not siphon money from other areas. The plan should operate under public control. This should not be a subsidy scheme for private insurance companies. Medicare legislation should be acceptable to both patients and doctors before it comes into effect. While local health zones can look into a medicare plan, the province can prepare fiscal needs for a province wide system. Local schemes can run via a local tax that can be decided on via a public referendum. In the mean time, it is recommended that the province start with a health premium and back out as more fiscal resources become available. It is also recommended that the province negotiate with the federal government in Ottawa to pay for a % of the hospitalization insurance, or a future medicare plan. The health care profession should agree to a public medicare system before the province proceeds with legislation. This commissions recommends that the province should pay the total bills of the medical profession that they set themselves on a salary basis via collective bargaining. A contract should be drawn up every 3 years to determine the salaries of doctors and specialists. Once a basic medical plan is established, it is recommended that the province expand the system to include dentists, pharmacists, and chiropractors. It is the belief of this report that with these recommendations, the health in Saskatchewan will increase a great deal. People will not go untreated, doctors will not have to worry about late bills, and less money will be spent as private insurance profits will no longer be needed. It is believed that with a planned medicare plan in Saskatchewan, health will become by far the best in Canada. The public health of Saskatchewan will become the envy of the western world. Signed, Hugh Maclean |
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| Dear Mr. Clerk I have recieved the results of the pending by-election for the electoral district of Yorkton. The election was issued after the riding was delcared vacant as the member hath been recalled. The writ was dropped for a by-election held on January 20th, 1949. My office has delcared that Mr. Philip Tanner has been returned as the duely elected member for the said district of Yorkton. This information has been filed in my office on January 20, 1949. Signed, Jack Martin Chief Electoral Officer, Saskatchewan |
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| Dear Mr. Clerk I have recieved the results of the pending by-election for the electoral district of Gravelbourg. The election was issued after the riding was delcared vacant as the member hath departed this life. The writ was dropped for a by-election held on January 20th, 1949. My office has delcared that Mr. Michael has been returned as the duely elected member for the said district of Gravelbourg. This information has been filed in my office on January 20, 1949. Signed, Jack Martin Chief Electoral Officer, Saskatchewan |
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| Douglas-Szydlowski Report Saskatchewan Health Care In 1948, Hugh Maclean completed a Royal Commission and filed a report with the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan which took a deep look at the healthcare system within Saskatchewan and looked at ways of improvement. At the time, the province was still deep in debt and suffered from a lack of funds. Despite these setbacks, the province had just established a publically funded hospitalization program in 1944. The report found that this was indeed beneficial to the healthcare system in the province due to it's good standing with the population, and the benefits of a healthier population. Despite this, the report found that more needed to be done. While the report made a number of recommendations, the problems still remain in this province. Despite this, some progress has been made in the way of providing better care in the province. In 1948 the government of the day acted on some of the recommendations of the Maclean report by passing the Saskatchewan Health Services Act which guarenteed the services created under the hospitalization program. Also included in this was the reforming of the entire healthcare system in the province of Saskatchewan. The province was devided into health districts who were independent of each other and the provincial government which allowed for better local care of patients and health facilities. Since the passing of the Health Services Act, the province took control of the hospitals in the province of Saskatchewan. While before these hospitals were operated by insurance companies, churches, and schools, the hospitals were now subject to proper regulation to ensure that an equal level of care could be attained in the province of Saskatchewan. Also because of this, the government was now in a position to provide better funding and more equipment to these hospitals ensuring that they met proper standards and could be counted upon to meet these standards. Another benefit to the creation of local health districts, as opposed to one large district managed by the government is that local areas are now in a position to make thier own decisions regarding healthcare in thier province. On June 1, 1949 history was made in North America as voters of the Swift Current Health District voted in favour of paying a special tax and in return creating the first medicare system in Canada. An important note in this event is that the doctors of the health district agreed to work under such a system. Since then the residents of Swift Current have full access to both hospitals and thier family doctor at any time. This coverage is universal and does not include deductables, or premiums. Since that time, the people of Swift Current have become very supportive of thier system with a local survey showing that over 80% favour the system. Six years later, two more health districts decided to try and adopt a system similar to the one in Swift Current. Like Swift Current, both districts put the choice to the people in a referendum. On August 30, 1955 the citizens of Regina and Assiniboia both decided against adopting such a system. Why this occured can be attributed to many different things, but one thing that deserves mentioning is that after the Swift Current agreement was reached, the Saskatchewan College of Doctors and Physicians decided that against supporting the establishment of any more medicare systems. Thus the doctors of Regina and Assiniboia opposed the question when put to a vote. The voice the doctors carried in those races clearly showed as both districts voted by wide margins against such a plan. When this report was assigned, we were given the tast of looking at other provinces healthcare systems in action. The tour across Canada showed consistently that plans whereby private insurance companies resulted in bad health of those poor that could not afford the cost of hospital bills. This is remarkably similar to the state of health in Saskatchewan at the time of the Maclean report in 1948 when hospitalization insurance was still in it's infancy. But somethings are changing across Canada since then. Around the beginning of 1950, hospitalization had become extremely popular, and that popularity had spread to other provinces. That is why the British Columbia announced the creation of thier own hospitalization program supported by public funds through premiums. While premiums have shown to be less strong than a tax dollar funded model, statistics show a marked improvement in the health of those in the province. Two years later, the province of Alberta adopted a hospitalization plan whereby government subsidies were provided to insurance companies. While this improved the state of insured citizens, the very poor were still unable to obtain coverage and the system has been shown to be less accountable. In 1957, the Government of Canada announced that they intended to institute a public hospitalization program for the entire nation. To accomplish this, the government announced that they would match every dollar every province spends on hospitalization. At the time of this report, most provinces had signed on to the deal and were working towards establishing this system. To this end, most provinces began to show similar qualities to the province of Saskatchewan during the 1944-1950 period. The only province that has yet to sign on to the deal as of the writing of this report is the province of Quebec which has yet to show any alternatives to what has been seen. Quebec's healthcare system is largely run by the Catholic Church and by private insurance companies. The Maclean report closed by recommending the establishement of a universal publically funded medicare plan. While that was a lofty goal in 1948, today it is much more realistic. With the end to debt in the province of Saskatchewan, and a more stable economy, the province is in a much more realistic position to establish a medicare plan. The federal-provincial equalization formula adopted by the previous Liberal Government has resulted in millions of new funding, and the creation of a national hospitalization program has resulted in millions more. As of the fiscal year 1960-1961, the province of Saskatchewan has shown revenues exceeding 300 million dollars. Simply put, the funds are finally there to establish such a plan. Like the Maclean report, this report includes certain recommendations for a medicare plan; As a medicare system is developed, it should meet certain goals and points that this commission feels is necessary to a successful system. This commission recommends the following: Under the scheme, medical bills should be prepaid . Patients should never see a doctor’s bill. The plan must be universal. It must cover everyone, regardless of age or physical condition. The launching of a medicare plan should go along with conditioning improvements in other areas of the health service. It should not siphon money from other areas. The plan should operate under public control. This should not be a subsidy scheme for private insurance companies. Medicare legislation should be acceptable to both patients and doctors before it comes into effect. The health care profession should agree to a public medicare system before the province proceeds with legislation. This commissions recommends that the province should pay the total bills of the medical profession that they set themselves on a salary basis via collective bargaining. A contract should be drawn up every 3 years to determine the salaries of doctors and specialists. Once a basic medical plan is established, it is recommended that the province expand the system to include dentists, pharmacists, and chiropractors. It is important to stress that if the medical profession in the province do not agree to a plan before legislation is introduced, it could cause a public backlash. As seen in 1955, doctors carry considerable weight with thier patients and while the system is in it's infancy, it is important that doctors, patients, and the governemnt are all comfortable with the conditions of the new medicare scheme. It is the belief of this report that with these recommendations, the health in Saskatchewan will increase a great deal. People will not go untreated, doctors will not have to worry about late bills, and less money will be spent as private insurance profits will no longer be needed. It is believed that with a planned medicare plan in Saskatchewan, health will become by far the best in Canada. The public health of Saskatchewan will become the envy of the western world. Signed, Hon. Tommy C. Douglas Minister of Public Health Deputy Premier of Saskatchewan Hon. Watler Szydlowski Former Premier of Saskatchewan Former Member of Parliament. |
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| Dear Mr. Clerk I have recieved the results of the pending by-election for the electoral district of Souris-Estaven. The election was issued after the riding was delcared vacant as the member hath departed this life. The writ was dropped for a by-election held on February 25, 1961. My office has delcared that Mr. Taylor has been returned as the duely elected member for the said district of Souris-Estaven. This information has been filed in my office on August 21, 1961. Signed, Jack Martin Chief Electoral Officer, Saskatchewan |
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| Dear Mr. Clerk I have recieved the results of the pending by-election for the electoral district of Weyburn. The election was issued after the riding was delcared vacant as the member hath tendered his resignation. The writ was dropped for a by-election held on December 10, 1961. My office has delcared that Mr. Williams has been returned as the duely elected member for the said district of Weyburn. This information has been filed in my office on December 15, 1961. Signed, Jack Martin Chief Electoral Officer, Saskatchewan |
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| Dear Mr. Clerk I have recieved the results of the pending by-election for the electoral district of Shellbrook. The election was issued after the riding was delcared vacant as the member hath tendered his resignation. The writ was dropped for a by-election held on July 4, 1969. My office has delcared that Mr. DeVito has been returned as the duely elected member for the said district of Shellbrook. This information has been filed in my office on July 10, 1969. Signed, Jack Martin Chief Electoral Officer, Saskatchewan |
