preview

William Lyon Mackenzie King In Canada During The 1930's

Decent Essays

During the 1930s there were only 2 main political figures for Canada and those 2 figures were William Lyon Mackenzie King the grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie and the second leader being R.B Bennett a powerful business man during the 1920s. Both very distinguished leaders had their own ideas for Canada but which one of these men handled the position better? During the 20s William Lyon Mackenzie King was in power and he did quite a good job with his policies to help the farmers after the first world war and many other policies that he instated during the time. The trouble began when the 1930s hit. This time is commonly referred to as the great depression or the stock market crash in the USA. I strongly believe that because of his policies, …show more content…

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

Get Access