Broadcast Date: Jan. 7, 1958
Ever since the 1940's when universal water fluoridation was first considered, the issue has deeply divided Canadians.

You
either saw fluoride as a necessary public service, providing universal
dental care to both rich and poor or a repugnant communist plot to take
away our basic rights.

This rift is evident in this heated
exchange between the great fluoride opponent broadcaster Gordon Sinclair
and Front Page Challenge mystery guest, Dr. Wesley Dunn, chairman of
the fluoridation committee for the Health League of Canada and editor of
the Canadian Dental Journal.

Rat and bug poison!
Toronto-based broadcaster Gordon Sinclair is vehemently against adding "poison" to our public drinking water.

City
of Toronto had approved fluoridation in 1955, however protests and
outcries, many spearheaded by Sinclair, means actual fluoridation of
Toronto's water supply doesn't take place until years later.

Sinclair
fervently objects to being forced to take medication he doesn't want.
He sees it as a gross infringement of his basic rights.
• Despite
Sinclair's crusading efforts Toronto begins to fluoridate its water
supply in 1963. It follows years of tumultuous legal battles and a 1962
plebiscite which results in a hair-splitting vote of 50.1 percent in
favour and 49.9 percent opposed.