THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN CANADA

1. THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN CANADA

2. CAUSES Over Production and Expansion Canada's companies expanded their industries so they could meet war demand. As European industry recovered, Canadian industry and agriculture were overproducing, causing prices to fall.

3. CAUSES • Dependence on Commodity Exports • Canada's economy was overly dependent on commodity exports. As U.S. and European demand fell it created a significant drop in sales causing an economical depression.

4. CAUSES • Dependence on the United States • The US was one of Canada’s largest buyers of timber and minerals. • Also, US corporations were buying shares of Canadian industries, linking the stock markets of the two.

5. CAUSES High Tariffs In a effort to prop up Canadian products, the national government raised tariffs. The protectionist strategy backfired when other countries imposed retaliatory tariffs on Canadian goods.

6. CAUSES Too Much Credit Canadians bought too much on lease and credit, including stocks. When the stock market crashed, Canadians were in debt and faced a difficult time as they attempted to sell their personal belongings or had their half paid-off possessions repossessed.

7. CAUSES The Dust Bowl The Prairies were hit extremely hard by several years of drought. Dust storms swept across the prairies, making it impossible for farmers to grow wheat. The farmers had frequently bought their seed and machinery using credit, and when they couldn't pay off their debts they were often bankrupted and rural banks failed.

8. BLACK TUESDAY Canada’s stock market was closely linked to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). When the U.S. market crashed so did the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE)

9. BLACK TUESDAY - Between 1929-1933 the GNP fell 40% (37% in the US) - Unemployment rose to 27% - Exports in wheat, minerals and timber fell by 50%.

11. W.L. McKenzie King

12. W.L. McKenzie King • Born: • December 17, 1874 in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario • - Education: • BA, LL.B, MA - University of Toronto • Fellow in Political Economy - University of Chicago • MA, Ph.D - Harvard University • London School of Economics • W.L. Mackenzie King was prime minister for 22 years, from December • 1921 to June 1926; from September 1926 to August 1930; and from October • 1935 to November 1948 • The longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history • He introduced the Canadian Citizenship Act in 1947 and became the first • official Canadian Citizen

13. W.L. McKenzie King • Known during his lifetime as bland, unfriendly to the point of being anti- • social, very outspoken as a Christian and extremely superstitious • - Generally speaking, he was very unpopular with the public • - McKenzie King never married, nor had any recorded romantic relations • His real personality traits emerged after he died, when his private diary was • discovered • These revealed that, throughout his political career, he regularly consulted • with fortune tellers and seers regarding his political and personal decisions. • He regularly held séances and used a Ouija board to communicate with • individuals like Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Leonardo Davinci, dead U.S. presidents, • his dead family members and his many dead pets

14. W.L. McKenzie King • First term struggle to work with the Progressive Party and his own • Liberal Party, especially on the issue of tariffs (which prairie progressives • wanted lowered) • McKenzie King’s government presided over a period of unrest among • farmers in the Prairies as farm prices declined • He also faced growing dissent from WWI veterans who expected their • sacrifices to be compensated during difficult economic times

15. R. B. Bennett

16. R. B. Bennett • Born: • July 3, 1870 in Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick • - Education: • LL.B - Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia • Defeated W.L. McKenzie King in the 1930 general election • - Served as prime minister during the worst years of the Great Depression • A multi-millionaire, the general population tended to dislike him because he • seemed to be removed from their struggles with wide-spread poverty

17. R.B. Bennett -Bennett tried to combat the depression by increasing trade within the British Empire and imposing tariffs for imports from outside the Empire. Known as the Imperial Preference Policy -Conservative pro-business and banks policies provided little relief for the unemployed

18. RELIEF IN CANADA

19. RELIEF CAMPS • In October 1932, Bennett established a network of relief camps for • unemployed and homeless men - These were run by the military • In return for bunkhouse residence, 3 meals a day, work clothes, medical • care and 20 cents a day, the "Royal Twenty Centers" worked 44-hour weeks • clearing bush, building roads, planting trees and constructing public • buildings.

20. RELIEF CAMPS • Critics argued that the federal government had established the camps in • lieu of a program of work and wage increases - Conditions in the camps were abhorrent, not only because of the low pay, but the lack of recreational facilities, isolation from family and friends, poor quality food, and the use of military discipline - Communist Party leaders saw a chance to organize strikes in the camps, forming the Relief Camp Worker’s Union

21. BENNETT’S NEW DEAL - January 1935, Bennett announces in a radio address “I am for reform” and launches his New Deal plan - The plan called for federal government intervention: - minimum wage, maximum work week laws, - unemployment insurance - retirement pensions, health insurance - mortgage assistance for farmers - The Supreme Court of Canada struck down most of the New deal, as they believed that it encroached upon the rights of provincial legislations

22. THE ON TO OTTAWA TREK • In April 1935, after a two-month protest in Vancouver, camp strikers voted to • travel east to Ottawa and take their grievances to the federal government - These strikers demanded: -Adequate first aid in the camps -Extension of the Workmen’s Compensation Act to camp workers -Repeal of Section 98 of the Criminal Code (“unlawful associations”) -Right for camps workers to vote in federal elections.

23. THE 1935 REGINA RIOT - Bennett invited trek leader Slim Evans to talks, on the condition that the 1600 strikers remain in Regina - A public meeting in Market Square announced a breakdown in talks - At 8:00 PM a whistle signaled the beginning of an attack by police on strikers - Trekkers in a nearby stadium were detained in a make-shift prison camp

24. AFTERMATH OF THE RIOT • These events discredited the Bennett government. In the 1935 elections • Bennett’s Conservatives went from 134 seats in Parliament to 39 • Public sympathy for the Trekkers (strikers) spilled over to the Communist • Party, who organized the protest • The military camps were dismantled and replaced with smaller camps • managed by provincial governments with slightly better pay, using federal • funds • Public support set the tone for social welfare reforms to take place after • World War II

25. McKENZIE KING’S RETURN • - With Bennett’s defeat, McKenzie King returns to power • - The McKenzie King government introduced relief programs: -National Housing Act -National Employment Commission • - The McKenzie King government then nationalized: - The Canadian Broadcast Corporation: 1936 - Trans-Canada Airlines (Air-Canada): 1937 - Bank of Canada: 1938 • From 1939 on, an increased demand in Europe for materials, and increased • spending by the Canadian government on public works created a boost to • the economy • - Unemployment declined as men enlisted in the military • By 1939, Canada was experiencing economic prosperity for the first time in • a decade

26. “Bible Bill” Aberhart • Aberhart was a school principal and evangelist. He begins broadcasting his • “Back to the Bible” program to a large audience in 1925 • In 1932 he became interested in C.H. Douglas’ Social Credit Theory, which • described an imbalance between what is produced and what can be purchased • (a misdistribution of income) - Douglas’ Social Credit Theory advocates - government income subsidies to stimulate economic growth - tight regulatory control of banks to manage money supply • Aberhart formed the Social Credit Party of Alberta and won the 1935 provincial • election • Aberhart is never successful in implementing Social Credit because banking and • monetary policy are controlled by the federal government in Canada

27. THE C.C.F. • In 1932 the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) • socialist political party was established in Calgary • The CCF Platform: - Concentration of wealth in the hands of a few • threatened democracy - A new social order calling for production and distribution • for the public good and not private gain - Their 1933 Regina Manifesto stated: • “All industry related to social planning would be nationalized. • Universal health care, unemployment compensation, and pensions would be provided by amendments to the BNAA” - The CCF enjoyed modest success in the Western Provinces

28. THE COMMUNIST PARTY - The CPC became a legal party in Canada in 1924 • Criticized as being un-Canadian because of its allegiance to Communist • International (Comintern), operating out of Moscow • During the 1919 “Red Scare”, Section 98 of the Criminal Code outlawed the • Communist Party. Party leaders were imprisoned in 1931 - The CPC played a major role in organizing the On To Ottawa Trek