RB Bennett had just taken over as PM of Canada Bennett promise to end unemployment He would use tariffs to blast onto the world market Spent 20 million on the provinces for make work projects
By 1933 the depression was worsening still Hundreds and thousands of farms and businesses were ruined Mines, mills and factories from coast to coast were shutting down A quarter of all Canadians were out of work In 1928 farmers had purchased 17,000 tractors, in 1932, 832 were bought
For Canada, railways had represented growth and development In the 1930’s they represented despair Thousands of men rode the train back and forth across Canada in search of work Transients were considered bums or hobo’s
The provinces could not cope with unemployed workers Major General AGL McNaughton, head of the Canadian Army came up with the idea of relief camps He calculated that for $1 a day including 20 cents pay a man could be housed, fed and put to work with simple tools
At first everyone welcomed the idea The mood soon changed Liberals branded Bennett a dictator with Army run camps characterizing his rule Some termed them slave camps Men felt like they were being cheated of their lives and working for what reason
In April, 1935 communist organizers persuaded half the 7000 workers in BC to strike for work and wages Having no success in Vancouver they decided to lobby the federal government BC strikers would lead unemployed people from Vancouver to Ottawa
The 1200 young men who began the trip grew at every stop The government viewed the trek as a start of a revolution The government decided the trekkers should be stopped in Regina
Regina was chosen because it was the location of RCMP headquarters The trek was halted and the leaders were allowed to continue on to Ottawa Bennett was appalled Strikers in Ottawa remained peaceful for a few days. Under the close eye of the RCMP they remain calm in Regina also.
Rallies were held in Regina’s Market Square Suddenly violence erupted By midnight a policeman was dead and 80 people were injured Bennett later insisted that he had defeated a communist revolution Led to the Bennett government being defeated in the fall of 1935
Bennett's tariffs helped out Manufacturers but not farmers The 1930’s brought economic and natural disaster to the parries' The drought of 1929 continued and by 1931 the topsoil of Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan began to blow away in the wind
Dust clouds were blown so far they could feel the dust on the ships in the Atlantic Ocean In 1932, a plague of grasshoppers devoured every green living thing The next year it was wheat rust and frost, followed by drought and hail Farmers often lived off a bag of flour and a few vegetables to serve an entire family
In 1930, Canadians had voted for Bennett because he had promised them a cure for the depression By 1932 four provinces were bankrupt The liberals did not have the solution either Canadians were looking for something new to ease the suffering
In 1932, William Aberhart from Alberta turned Social Credit into a political movement Stated that it was the difference between the price paid to the producer and the price paid by the consumer which led to poverty This difference would have to be made up by the government.
Meant to replace the injustice of capitalism JS Woodworth was the leader Organized infighting Labor parties, along with the progressives into the CCF Outlined its policies in a document known as the Regina Manifesto Gained much popularity in Canada
Introduced in US by Franklin Roosevelt Canadians were exposed to him via radio Even Bennett was impressed The New Deal of 1935 called for unemployment insurance, minimum wage, maximum hours, marketing boards to raise farm prices and government intervention
The liberals won the election of 1935 easily following Bennett and the conservatives inability to lift Canada from the depression In 1938 King and the Liberals put the bank of Canada under government control The economy was beginning to improve under a new reciprocity agreement with the United States