The Great Depression: Political Impact CCF Social Credit Party Union Nationale Provincial Solutions Change in Federal Government Global Politics

Politics of Protest While Ottawa struggled to find ways to cope with the Great Depression, some Canadians looked to new political parties for solutions

The Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) Canada’s first socialist party founded in the prairie provinces 1932 Promoted government control of the economy to ensure all Canadians benefit equally J.S. Woodsworth party leader

The Regina Manifesto CCF Party Platform Opposed free market economics Supported public ownership of key industries Advocated social services and job creation programs

Social Credit Party Social Credit platform based on the belief that capitalism was a wasteful and unequal system The government must release money so people could spend it Western Party led by William “Bible Bill” Abergart

Union Nationale Party to support Quebec Nationalism Led by former Conservative Maurice Duplessis Relied on Roman Catholic Church and rural voters English minority controlled the provincial economy and was blamed for problems

Union Nationale Party Platform Based upon: Improved working conditions Social insurance Publically owned power System of farm credits

Return of the King (3rd) 1935 King did NOT support government intervention in the economy Argued that social services should only be introduced when the economy was strong

National Employment Commission 1936 King set up the NEC in 1936 to examine the state of unemployment in Canada Commission recommended the federal government spend millions on job creation programs King spent a fraction of the recommended amount

Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations1937 To examine the tense issues between the federal and provincial governments The Commission recommended that the federal government pay unemployment and social benefits (pension) and equalization payments

Equalization Payments The Federal government gives the poorer provinces grants to ensure that every province was able to offer its citizens the same level of services

Germany in the Great Depression To meet the 32 billion dollar reparations payments, the German government printed more money This actually lowered the value of their money Yet prices of goods on the rise

Germany and The Big Three The Big Three agreed to reduce the terms for Germany’s reparation payments so that Germany could actually make payments US, France, Britain dependent on payments to keep own economy from failing

The Empire of Japan Tariff increases and decline of international trade devastated manufacturing industry economy Implemented Keynesian Economics Spending government money allows the population to spend and therefore jumpstart the economic cycle Implemented aggressive plan to expand territory into China’s Northern province of Manchuria

The End of the Great Depression We will never know if the newly implemented economic plans to combat the Great Depression would have worked WWII broke out and in turn caused an economic boom which ended the Great Depression