The War at Home and What the War Meant to Canada Ms. Campbell Socials 11

The War at Home During WW2 the Canadian Home Front made enormous contributions  Total War led many factories to produce war supplies  Factories operated non-stop and Canadians worked long hours

The Home Front Women joined the war industries in jobs that were not typical  “Rosie the Riviter” became a popular nickname for working women

The Home Front Wartime production and employment increase the amount of money available to the average Canadians  But there were fewer goods available to buy

The Home Front Mackenzie King tried to avoid inflation several ways:  Enthusiastically encouraging Canadians to buy Victory Bonds  Increased income tax  A freeze on wages in 1941  Food rations (1kg meat, 220g sugar, 250g butter, 225g coffee) These were generous compared to England and the US

The Home Front The Wartime Prices and Trade Board was established to reduce social unrest  It limited the power of trade unions by controlling wages to make strikes less effective

The Home Front The labour shortage made the board’s job difficult and many people went on strike for higher wages and the right to bargain In 1944 the federal government allowed workers to join a union and forced employers to recognize unions

The Home Front The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was becoming increasingly popular both federally and provincially  Strong party support helped develop Canada’s “Cradle to Grave” policy of social security

The Home Front In 1939, King promised there would be no conscription  When Hitler took over Europe, it was clear that thousands of soldiers would be needed  Many Canadians demanded the government do more

The Home Front King’s government brought in the National Resource Mobilization Act (NRMA)  This gave the government emergency powers including conscription for home defence

The Home Front The Conservative opposition wanted conscription but King knew there would be strong resistance in Quebec

The Home Front King decided to hold a plebiscite on the issue and used the slogan “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary”  In 1942 all provinces except Quebec voted to allow conscription

The Home Front  The National Selective Service Act allowed conscription Riots were held in Montreal  For two years King avoided sending troops overseas but in ,000 men were conscripted for active service Only 2463 of these ever reached the front

What the War Meant to Canada In 1940 (before joining the war) President Roosevelt called the US the “arsenal of democracy”  He promised the US would arm and supply the war  A program called the Lend-Lease Act was developed to give Britain war goods

What the War Meant to Canada In Canada, the economy boomed as it produced war goods  Agriculture was overtaken by manufacturing Canada’s economy transformed from rural to a modern industrial nation

What the War Meant to Canada Society also changed as women were employed in greater numbers After the war it was expected that women would give up their jobs to returning soldiers

What the War Meant to Canda After the war 48,000 war brides came to Canada Otherwise, immigration decreased