The Great Depression of Canada

The Great Depression was a period in time where millions of Canadians had suffered from hunger, unemployment, homelessness and an economic downfall. The horror of the Great Depression took place in 1929-1939 and had lasted for a decade affecting millions of people worldwide. However, Canada had been impacted the most. The lasting horror of the Great Depression resulted in disastrous impacts on the economy. This was due to the Stock Market Crash, the construction of useless relief camps to open job opportunities for men, and the lack of raw materials which affected the lives of many farmers.

It had already been 7 years since the Great Depression hit Canada on October 29, 1929. The economic shock that it caused led to unemployment for many Canadians. And with the draught happening in the Prairies many people, mainly farmers, had suffered. The Great Depression had hit many countries worldwide, but not many had suffered severely as Canada did.

The Great Depression of the 1930s was a significant era in Canadian history, defining, among other things, the relationship between Canadians and their government for generations to come. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, however, the issue was a problematic one for the country at the time. Specifically, during the prolonged downturn, the failure of traditional policies and politics to mitigate the economic hardships created by the Great Depression led to the emergence of a widening chasm between the general Canadian public and the political establishment -- a divide which would itself lead to wide-ranging debate on solutions to the crisis. The foremost political leaders of the time, particularly Prime Ministers R.B. Bennett and William Lyon

The Great Depression was a devastating predicament, with consequences affecting counties all around the world. North America was a region that was hit particularly hard during this time in history. Many people were left unemployed, hungry and often homeless. Losses of jobs, savings and declines in the economy were widespread, stretching from one coast of the nation to the other. With an unemployment rate at the time of 26.6%, majority of the population was forced onto relief, for example, in Saskatchewan, losses forced “66% of the rural population onto relief” (Struthers, 2013, November 7a). The era experienced the lowest population growth in Canada since the 1880’s, with the number of immigrants dropping from 169,000 to 12,000 within 5 years,

The Great Depression that occurred in the 1930s marks one of the lowest points in Canadian history. The country struggled in many ways and survival became especially difficult. The Prairies were hit hard during this crisis. Relief camps designed to aid were demanding and severe. Along with this, poverty became awfully common throughout the decade. During the Great Depression, Canadians were faced with a variety of challenges including the Dustbowl that occurred in the Prairie provinces, harsh conditions in relief camps, and immense poverty.

Veering away from Laurier`s classic laisse-faire economic idea, Bennett introduces Canada to Keynesian economics, as Laurier`s version was deemed unsuccessful with dealing with the depression. Bennett`s `new deal` is Canada`s version of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt`s `new deal. ` The deal endorses progressive taxation, regulations on working conditions, unemployment insurance, health and accident insurance, an old-age pension plan, and agricultural support. For those few who are employed, work week maximums and a regulated minimum wage can improve the lives of men and their families. The Wheat regulation board was created to equalize the price of wheat throughout the Canada. Although controversial, Bennett`s approach to dealing with the depression surly isn’t something Canada has experienced

Canada had it worse during The Great Depression than any other country. However, in Canada, which province had it the worse? That province would be called Saskatchewan. Each province had it pretty bad, but Saskatchewan recently went through a drought, grasshopper plague and huge dust storms. Over 250 000 people left the province during The Great Depression. There was very limited food and shelter. Hail would kill any crops the farmers would try to grow. The prairies we’re covered in bleached cow bones from either the farmer killing it or it dying of starvation. The relief cost for all of Saskatchewan was about $62 million. Well, $62 million is more than its total revenue. Almost everyone was relying on the government for food, shelter, warmth and water.

The Great Depression was a major hit to Canada. It had started in the United Stated in 1929 but quickly escalated into Canada. The Great Depression did occur after WW1 and the gross domestic product had dropped 40%, and unemployment had reached 27-30% in 1933. A ton of companies had closed, because corporate profits which were $398 million turned into losses of $98 million as prices fell. Farmers weren’t that great during the depression ad the collapse of wheat prices occurred. By the year 1930 305 of labour force was fired and one fifth of the population became dependent on the government for assistance, for the people who still had jobs wages fell along with prices. During the impact of the great depression Canada’s economy was at the time

This led to him losing the election in 1930 and getting R.B Bennett elected. During the year of 1935 King finally realized that the depression wasn’t just going to go over easily. He instated the policy of Freer Trade with the USA very quickly after being voted back into office in 1935. This policy fixed the barriers for the tariffs that were put into place by R.B Bennett during his time in office whilst the great depression had just gotten into motion. King also created the National Employment Commission which was created to fix the unemployment rates in Canada and to create new jobs for unemployed Canadians. Though ineffective it was a good idea because it led to the increased budget in 1938 from 20 Million to 25 Million dollars for relief from the depression. In addition to the increased budget the government also offered loans to municipalities which led to the National Housing Act which allowed the reconstruction of houses within Canada. Bennetts policies were referred to as Reform and Relief Policies. His first plan to solve the depression was to give $20 million towards relief for the winter of 1930. You may not think that this was a lot of money but during the time the budget for the government was $500

The Great Depression was an unfriendly time for millions of Canadians, certainly not just Canadians, but those internationally. This decade of despair contributed to not only the negative effects to the economy, but as well as the pessimistic social justice issues. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) did provide some hope for those who sought out aid and solutions; however, were unable to assist those in need; furthermore, life wasn’t so fun for those of lower-class and or part of religious or ethnic minorities as well.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” is a famous quote once said during the Great Depression by Franklin D. Roosevelt. After one world war, great financial fallout, and another world war to follow, the twentieth century was already shaping out to be a handful. When the Great Depression was coming to an end and the economy was trying to turn around, jobs started opening up and a new wave of immigrants came into New York, the Puerto Ricans. For some the American dream was to come to America and start a new life, but for others already here, it was about making it big in show business. “West Side Story”, a twentieth century musical, was greatly influenced by the immigration during that time.

The decade known as the Great Depression was an era filled with both hardship and tribulation. Historians continue to debate the root causes of the collapse of the stock market which led the country into depression. Other deride the ineptitude of the Canadian government’s response to the crisis. At any rate, the “Dirty Thirties” was a period of time unlike any other. While those who suffered through it are largely gone, the memory of those dark days remains to this day.

The Great Depression was an economic recession that began on October 29, 1929, following the crash of the U.S. stock market. The Great depression started in the US but had quickly spread to Canada. Although the market crashing is a factor of the depression it is not the main cause of the depression in Canada. Protectionism, reparation, overproduction of goods, and price of wheat fell, is what started the Great Depression in Canada. The price of wheat had greatly fallen.

The tension between the public and governing institutions was made worse by the fact that the failure of government to mitigate the hardships of the Great Depression was not only perceived nationally, but also felt personally: a growing number of Canadians found, much to their dismay, that many decisions made by the state were not benefitting them. In fact, some were doing great harm and, in the process, eroding the relationship between them and their government. An important example of this kind of problem was Bennett’s 1932 decision to create a series of remote work camps for single, unemployed young men (Fielding, 127) - a move that drew a great deal of criticism, especially within the context of Bennett’s failure to provide more lasting

Burdensome damages introduced by WWI caused major stagnation in the Canadian economy, generating economic chaos in the Great Depression. The Great Depression took place during 1929- 1939, also known as the western industrializations longest-lasting economic downturn. Although many countries went through the depression, some suffered greater than others such as Canada. As the stock markets in Wall Street had a major crash in 1929 the depression really began to hit. During 1921-1930 the liberal government was in charge therefore society had the most control over the economic market. The government believed if they let society “run its course” it would soon fall back into place and regain economic prosperity. The conservative government was then elected in 1930. The prime minister, Robert Bemment tried many traditional methods to fix the economy, resulting to worse conditions. The free market approach could not restore economic prosperity on its own after several years of effort.