Depression: Unemployment and Mackenzie King Essay

How successful were the national governments in bringing economic recovery in Britain in the years 1931-1939?

The Great Depression was a terrible point in Canadian history, and for most of the world. It was a point in time where thousands of people lost their jobs, and even lost their homes because of the depressed economy. Business was booming in the early 1920s, but when companies tried to expand, and therefore issued stocks, the economy was thrown off. Some investors sold their stocks for high prices, and as a result, everyone else followed. With less of a demand, stock prices became fractions of what they used to be, and on October 29, 1929, the New York Stock Exchange collapsed, followed by the Toronto and Montreal Stock exchanges. This collapse of the stock markets caused a depression like which the world had never seen before. It was

The Canadian government?s plan to get rid of the great American culture influence was one of many faults. There would be no way of carrying this out without disappointing much of the un-disturbed Canadian society, those who have grown comfortable with their surroundings and are appreciative of everything the United States has had to

In 1919, World War I had finally come to an end, leaving most of the world in a post war depression. However, in countries like Canada, the decade ahead would be filled with amazing growth and change in many ways. The 1920s were an exciting time in Canada because of the economic prosperity, technological, social and cultural revolutions and growing political responsibility and change in policy that country experienced. These economic, social and political changes really made the 1920s in Canada “roar”.

Herbert Hoover, the president in office when the Great Depression hit the country, did very little to ameliorate the devastating situation. Hoover underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, misdiagnosed the causes of the problems, and clung to his beliefs in individual achievement and self-help. His corrective measures, aimed at inflation and the federal budget, were thus damaging themselves. Furthermore, he hesitated to mobilize government resources to aid Americans and instead appealed to private groups to lend a hand (Encarta). Thus Hoover’s administration did little to mitigate the impact of the Depression.

Most say the onset of the Great Depression was spurred on by the stock market crash. Although economists don’t think that it was the only reason for Canada being in such a terrible state. In the 20s, people had, in their spending frenzy, bought large quantities of stock though credit, stock that they could not afford. People owed money to businesses and banks, and accumulated debts that they couldn’t pay off. In 1929, when it came time to pay, they didn’t have the money, and profits dropped drastically. The values of the stock became completely worthless. With no money and no jobs, people had to leave their homes either because they couldn’t pay for them, or they moved to search for a job.

The Great Depression was one of the worst collapses in the history of the Canadian economy. Canadians endured years of misery and in the same manner, suffered through all the ineffective solutions that took place. Despite Prime Minister Bennett's multiple advances to bring the economy back to pace, most of the solutions Bennett acted upon caused more harm than good to the economy. Bennett's first solution was enrolling in Protective Tariffs, which not only sent more residents out of work but also reduced Canada’s trade with other countries. Secondly, Bennett's involvement in putting up relief camps bought hatred, from unemployed men, towards Bennett and his government. Thirdly, Bennett's final attempt was the New Deal, which ultimately led

In conclusion, the Great Depression was a downside of America’s history. But, in the dark times, one of our nation’s best presidents came into light. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This meant in those times that Americans were doing more harm than good. When they withdrew their stocks and money from the banks, they were causing more damage to the economy. With shutting down the banks and getting congress together, they were able to solve the dilemmas of the Great Depression through actions taken by federal and state

Canada in the 1930s was in a state of economic depression and the people, notably living in the west, were finding it difficult to secure a source of income. R.B. Bennett was elected as Prime Minister by Canadians in 1930 on the basis that he would end unemployment, but by 1932 his government was seemingly overwhelmed by the persistence of the Depression and was becoming

Firstly, When Richard Bennet came into power, he created what is known Relief Camps. They were in place so that problems of transients would no become a bigger problem. These men who worked were given food, shelter, army style clothing and .25₡ per day also these camps were built deep in the wilderness, away from towns and cities. This plan by Richard Bennett backfired because the relief camp workers rebelled which cause the On-to-Ottawa Trek and these camps gave no hope for a better future also showed that Bennett could not solve the problem of the transient. Secondly, During the Great Depression, there was increasing unemployment rates in every province some higher than the others because of how much they invested in the stock market. Due to rising unemployment levels, people from different communities started to leave their communities for a job elsewhere like other communities which created the issue of transients. Living in Canada even worse because they brought in fear and danger of being robbed because they do not have anything. Thirdly, Many people during this time were encouraged to “Buy now and Pay later” basically buying everything on credit and pay it later. Because of this, many families found themselves hopelessly in debt through buying on credit. With interest payments, many products ended up costing far more than what it was worth. Life in Canada difficult because many were in debt and

The Great Depression was not just a little event in history, hence the word “great”, but a major economical setback that would change Canada, and the world, forever. The word “great” may not mean the same thing it does now; an example of this is the ‘Great’ War. These events were not ‘good’ or ‘accomplishing’ in any way, quite the opposite, but in those times it most likely meant ‘big’. What made it big are many factors, both in the 20’s and 30’s, which can be categorized into three main points: economics, politics and society. With all these events, compressed into ten years, this period of economic hardship of the 1930’s truly deserves the title the “Great Depression”.

The Great Depression also is known as the Dirty Thirties happened in the 1930s. It left Canada and the world in shock. Millions of Canadians were without jobs, and many became homeless. Countries across the world were affected by the Depression, such as the U.S.A. The USA was hit the hard which affected Canada. USA rely on Canada for fish and wheat when the U.S economy goes down Canada suffers. The U.S didn’t buy any more fish,wheat,minerals,pulp and paper from Canada. Many countries put high tariffs on goods,trading slowed down,people had to pay back their credit money they had borrowed from the government.Farmers were hit the hardest in Canada because if you could not pay for the land you would get evacuated. Droughts and grasshoppers infection started to happen which brought more suffering. Meat prices went up,some stores were closed down,Immigrant dropped 90% violence and crime went up. Men that didn’t have houses were sent to reliefs camps,the military setup 20 000 men to work sometimes works was useful,other times they would make work projects. They got 3 daily meals, work clothes,medical care, and 20 cents a day.The men would work 44 hours of cleaning brush,building roads,planting trees and constructing the public building.On April 1935, 500 men went on strike for better living conditions,more pay and fewer hours this has been just like the Winnipeg general strike. This depression made Canada what it is today,the economy is in better shape,people can find jobs and immigrants are taking over

When the citizens had bought all that they could buy, there was a decrease in demand. Suddenly, the industries had an excess of goods and no one to sell it to. At this point, the Fordney-McCumber Act began to cripple the economy of America. Other nations introduced high tariffs to boost their revenue and to spite the United States. Sadly for the United States, these high tariffs and low demand were instrumental in the depression that America experienced. When the stock market crashed on October 29th, 1929 or “Black Tuesday”, the united states, along with other nations were in economic turmoil and the widespread prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly. The depression threatened people's jobs, savings, and even their homes and farms. During the heart of the depression, over one-quarter of the American population was out of work. For many Americans, these were extremely hard times. When Roosevelt was voted into office, he introduced the New Deal. While this plan tried to help the united states out of it’s isolationist rut, the second world war was the final solution. Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and even larger numbers went to work in well-paying defence jobs.

Canada the changes were dramatic. Between 1929 and 1933 Canada’s National Gross revenue fell by 42%. By 1933, 30% of the labour force was out of work, and one in five Canadians had become dependent upon government relief for survival. Due to this, Soup Kitchens and Bread Lines were established by government agencies and charities. Unemployed or homeless individuals were able to get a bread and soup for free, or at an extremely low price. Millions of Jobless families that were hit hard with no money to buy food, and soup kitchens were their only way for

The first way that the Women’s Movement significantly impacedt Canada’s history was economically, in WWI. This was the first time the role of women in society and their contributions to the economy