Rural protest and medical professionalism in turn-of-the-century Ontario.

Abstract

The Patrons of Industry, a rural populist party, challenged the powers of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons in the 1890s. This was part of a broader campaign by the Patrons against ‘protectionism’ of all kinds. At the same time, the College leadership was under attack from a predominantly rural group of doctors who styled themselves the Medical Defence Association. Whereas the Patrons sought to curb some of the profession’s self-regulatory privileges and reduce both entrance requirements and the cost of education so that the sons of farmers could pursue medical careers, the Medical Defence Association sought higher entrance standards to cut down on crowding of the profession. The Patrons rapidly died out as a political force, but while their medical reform efforts failed, they briefly served to restrain those who might otherwise have made the profession more exclusive.