National Post - Canada's medical pioneers tapped American energy; Our doctors were ‘never content to be colonials’

The medical border between Canada and the United States was more open in William Osler's time than it is in today's era of differing systems of health insurance. In the 19th century, Canada's leading urban centres, Montreal and Toronto, saw themselves as vying for economic, educational and social leadership with the great cities of the eastern and central United States.

This was particularly true in health care. Canadians aspired then, as they do now, to have medical institutions as advanced as any on the continent. The high quality of McGill University's Faculty of Medicine both shaped the young Osler and then was shaped by him. After Osler left McGill for the U.S., its faculty struggled self-consciously for decades to continue to adhere to the highest Oslerian standards, though in the long run it has largely succeeded. Throughout its history, McGill's has been one of the premier medical schools in continental North America...