The Great Tommy Douglas

The well-known founder of both medicare and Canada's social democratic movement died on this day in 1986 in Ottawa at the age of 81. But Tommy Clement Douglas was lesser-known as a Baptist preacher in Saskatchewan. It was the pulpit that prepared him as one of the nation's most eloquent orators: a talent that helped him get his medicare message across. As premier of Saskatchewan in 1961, Douglas introduced the first hospital insurance program.

CBC Clip