Government War Policies

Central Planning PM King’s cabinet included C.D. Howe, a former businessperson who could get factories running Industry leaders were picked to turn Canada into an industrial war machine

Paying for War Income taxes were raised Victory Bonds were sold – bonds were sold and in a few years, they would get their money back plus interest (money for the short-term war effort) Victory Bond campaigns raised about $12 billion Government spending on the war 1939-1944 was around 5.5 billion

Wartime Prices and Trade Board PM King creates the Board to control the economy and to control inflation and new measures included: A Wage Freeze in October 1941 A Price Freeze on Goods Rationing – ration books to keep track of how much each person could purchase so everyone got an equal share of hard-to-get foods and materials

Censorship Letters to and from the front were read and censored to keep important information out of Nazi hands (especially anything being sent to POWs) The media was screened by government officials and nothing was communicated that was deemed unfit

Propaganda 1940s – the government communicated with posters, radio broadcasts, and short films and newsreel footage Wartime campaigns were meant to convince Canadians that war was necessary, and they tried to appeal to emotions Propaganda was about persuasion more than truth

Not Necessarily Conscription… Quebec was again fiercely against any conscription King rejected conscription in 1939 and 1940 June 1940 – National Resources Mobilization Bill: conscription for service in Canada Initially called for 30 days’ training, then four months…then in April 1941 for as long as the war lasted First Nations soldiers volunteered, but their treaties allowed for their exemption from conscription

But Conscription If Necessary 1942 – PM King holds a plebiscite (a special vote on a proposal) – he wanted Canada’s permission to “break his promise” not to send conscripts overseas “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary”

Conscription Plebiscite 79% of Anglophone Canada voted yes 85% of Francophones voted no Spring 1942, Parliament authorized the use of conscripts overseas, but King did not use it until 1944 after the D-Day invasion and liberation of the Netherlands (conscripts were referred to as zombies) Protests occurred in Quebec 13000 conscripts had been sent, only 2500 reached front lines and 60 killed