Canada Responds to The Great Depression
Dec 21, 2015
Canada Responds to The Great Depression
Social Response:Charity and Relief
• People coming together to treat their community members like family
• Ex: soup kitchens, donations, community action
Social Response:Protest
• Made demands on the government, forcing change in policy
• Ex: On to Ottawa, Regina Riots
Social Response:Distractions & Entertainment
• Became a unifying force within the country
• Ex: CBC radio shows, Dionne Quintuplets
Political Response
• Generally didn’t work
Political Response:W. L. M. King
• Essentially ignored the problem• Felt that the Great Depression was an
economic correction that would work itself out.
• Laissez faire economic policy• Outright refused to help provinces and
municipalities• Infamously said he wouldn’t give a “five
cent piece” to a Conservative provincial government
Political Response:R. B. Bennett (pt. 1)
• Out of touch with the gravity of the situation (millionaire who lived on the top floor of a Montreal hotel)
• Once said that “one of the greatest assets a man can have on entering life’s struggle is poverty
• Imposed tariffs, created work camps• His name became synonymous with the
depression
Bennett Buggy
Bennett’s Backyard
Bennett Blanket
Political Response:Regina Riot
• Bennett ordered the On-to Ottawa trains to stop in Regina, invited the leaders to Ottawa, hoping to calm things
• Talks were unsuccessful, Bennett attacked leaders as communist radicals.
• Bennett ordered the arrest of the men, and a riot broke out: one RCMP dead, several citizens injured
Political Response:R. B. Bennett (pt. 2)
• Followed US president Roosevelt’s “New Deal” program
• Bennett introduced millions of dollars in relief payments including:
• Unemployment insurance
• Raising minimum wage • Improved working conditions
• Creation of agricultural support programs
• Policies seen as “too little too late”
Political Response:New Political Parties
• Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)
• 1930’s witnessed the organization of workers into strong unions, especially in areas like the Prairies, and the West
• Farmers were the hardest hit, and they wanted political representation – someone to listen to them. They wrote the Regina Manifesto, and fought for socialist ideas
• Rise of CCF – today’s NDP – fought for worker’s rights, social programs, relief
Political Response:New Political Parties
• Social Credit Party• was a grassroots conservative party that
believed strongly that he government should reimburse citizens with small payments when possible.
• Founder was William Aberhart, or “Bible Bill”
• Promised that every citizen would receive $25 if they voted for him, he did not fulfill his promise, however he was Premier of Alberta for over a decade
Political Response:New Political Parties
• Union nationale• Maurice Duplessis formed a party that
supported Quebec nationalism – roots of separatism
• Relied heavily on support of Catholic church, and traditional “French values”
• Premier for over 20 years