model of public health insurance. In fact, his recommendations went further than the Saskatchewan plan, proposing additional publicly funded benefits, such as free dental coverage for schoolchildren and welfare recipients and free prescription glasses and drugs for the needy and elderly. "The only thing more expensive than good health care," he argued, "is no health care." By the time of his report, the Diefenbaker government had been replaced by the Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson. The Pearson government was deeply divided on the issue of health care, and took some time to reach a decision. Eventually, the federal government implemented the medicare system which was at the core of Hall's recommendations, on a cost-share basis with the provinces. The new system came into force in July, 1968. Additional public inquiries Hall chaired numerous other royal commissions and public inquiries. While he was still on the Supreme Court, he conducted a public inquiry into education, at the request of the government of Ontario. Reporting in 1968, the Hall-Dennis Report recommended child-centred education and a flexible curriculum. The report also argued against the separation of handicapped children and slow learners from other students. The report was blamed by opponents as contributing to a decline in educational standards. After he retired from the Supreme Court, Hall conducted an inquiry into the rail system in western Canada, with a particular focus on grain transportation. He also served as an arbitrator and mediator in strikes by national railway workers, grain handlers, and air traffic controllers. Hall also made recommendations on reforms to court structures. In 1979, the federal government appointed Hall to conduct a follow-up inquiry into the current state of the Canadian health care system. His report, issued a year later, raised concerns about the growth of extra-billing and user fees. His report eventually led to the introduction of the Canada Health Act, which prohibited those practices. University chancellor Hall served as the chancellor of two different universities: the University of Guelph, from 1971 to 1977, and the University of Saskatchewan, from 1979 to 1986. By a quirk of fate, he followed two former leaders of the federal Progressive Conservative party in the two positions. His predecessor as chancellor of Guelph was George Drew, who led the party from 1948 to 1956. At Saskatchewan, he succeeded his old law school chum, John Diefenbaker, who died in 1979. Legacy Historian J. L. Granatstein has