1. The Causes of the Great Depression in Canada

2. The Great Depression
1920’s- General Wealth & Optimism across the country
1930’s- The Great Depression
Worst economic downturn in Canadian History
Stock Market Crash NOT only cause
A symptom
A sign of things to come in N.A.

4. The Great Depression 1920s- Prosperity The Business Cycle
Upswings and Downswings
4 stages
Prosperity: Sales, Wages, Prices, Production, Demand- High
Labour unrest High, Unemployment Low
Recession: Sales & Production Declining, Wages & Prices Falling,
Labour Unrest High, Unemployment increasing
Depression: Sale, Wages, Prices, Production, Demand,
Labour Unrest Low, Unemployment Very High
Recovery: Sales, Wages, Prices all rising, Production & Demand increasing
Labour Unrest Low, Unemployment Falling
1920s- Prosperity

5. The Great Depression The Business Cycle 1930s
Starts with a RECESSION
Sales slow down, Too many goods, Can’t sell everything
Cut production & layoff workers
Less money to spend and buy goods
Employed are careful with money
Sales begin to fall
If downturn continues it can become a DEPRESSION
Worst case scenario
Can go from Recession to Recovery

6. Black
Tuesday
October 29, 1929

7. Stock Market Crash Many people “playing” the Stock Market
Get rich overnight. How?
Buy lots of stock when price is low
Sell when price is high…duh!
Not that easy
Many lost everything

8. Stock Market Crash Buy on MARGIN- $100 for $1000 worth of stock
Stock goes up, pay back loan, keep profit
Stocks go down, People panic, sell stocks
Price drops further, all downhill
Major Stock Exchanges drop more than 50%
Exercise
Read pg
In your notes- Summarize Cause of Great Depression (6)

9. Drought in the Prairies

10. Drought in the Prairies
Western Canada hit very hard
Massive Decline of Income per person
Saskatchewan 72%
Alberta 61%
Manitoba 49%
Too dependent on Wheat
Severe drought and grasshoppers destroy crops
Biggest Issue- Not Too Little, Too Much Wheat
Glut on the World Market
No Money to Buy it
1929- $1.60 per bushel
1932- $0.38 per bushel
Many Farmers leave farms to go to city in search of work

12. The Great Depression Living Conditions
/3 of Canadians out work.
People travel from town to town looking for job
Ride the rails from town to town.
Always hear of work somewhere else
No Job= No Money= No Necessities of Life (Food, Clothing, Shelter)
People lived near starvation, malnutrition.
Question- What Social Services exist today to combat these issues?
No Unemployment Insurance, Family Allowance, Government paid medical care
Those with money lived well, prices were low.
People looked to the Government for Relief

13. The Great Depression Where did you get your clothes?
“Mother made all the clothes for us from old clothes that had been given to us. I remember she knitted wool stockings because it was so cold. Mother’s relatives would send us old clothes and many of these had holes in them. I was embarrassed to wear the old clothes. It seemed mine were the worst of all the kids in the school.”

14. The Role of the Government
City Governments/ Charities Overrun
Turn to Provincial & Federal Governments for help
Federal Government slow to act
PM William Lyon MacKenzie King- “wait it out”
Felt the depression will be short-lived
Not willing to help, Provinces’ job
Vote out by mass unemployed
New PM- Conservative- RB Bennett
Played to mass unemployed
“I Will find everyone work or perish trying”
Promised relief funds for provinces
Introduce Tariffs to help Canadian market
Minimal Impact, band aid solutions

15. The Role of the Government
Cities charged with dispersing relief funds
Some cities go into debt, layoff workers, raise taxes, borrow money
Getting Relief
People had to prove the lived in city- no drifters
Had to prove they couldn’t pay bills, services cut off
Some Women, even with kids, not given relief without a husband
Relief Camps
Single unemployed men
Isolated Northern Colonies
8 hour days- cutting brush, moving rocks, building roads
Given Food, Shelter, clothing, $0.20 per day

16. The Role of the Government
PM Bennett blamed for inability to end Depression
Bennett Buggies– Cars pulled by horses or other animals
Bennettburghs– homeless communities
Bennett blankets- newspapers

17. On to Ottawa Trek

18. On to Ottawa Trek
’s of men leave BC, fed up with life in relief camps
Board Freight trains, head to Ottawa to protest Government
As they move East, more people join their cause
Trekkers Wanted:
Minimum Wage
Social and Unemployment Insurance
Stopped in Saskatchewan by Mounties
PM Bennett claimed it was a plot to overthrow Government
Riot breaks out, several people injured, police officer killed
Protester’s demands are ignored by Government

19. The Great Depression Did you have a job during the Depression?
“No but my brother in Kingston worked for 15 cents a day driving tractors. I was on relief. They gave us prunes (to eat) and a pair of boots once a year. We got pants, but not suits- just salvage, surplus clothes I once asked Mayor Kaiser for food but he said no. That guy (the mayor) had butter on his table. Everyone else had fatty, lardy margarine. To get my relief, I killed rats in dump on Gibb Street and dug sewers and ditches”

20. The Great Escape Hollywood
People were looking to away from terrible life
Golden Age for Hollywood
People could enter the world of film- Escapism
Other Forms of Escape
Radio shows, song, magazines, books, sports
CBC- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Created by PM Bennett to counter American Radio waves

21. The Cinderella Man James J. Braddock “The Bulldog of Bergen” 1905-1974
Born In New York
Young Boxer, title contender
Good right hand, solid chin
Looked after family during Great Depression, less focus on his career
Wife and 3 kids
On Social Relief
Took fights without training/ injured
Lost a lot- started career
Next 40 fights:
downtrodden population rallied behind him- one of them

22. A little too late… PM RB Bennett
1935- Canadians angry with lack of change
Government doing now
Bennett makes radical changes to policy
Unemployment Insurance & Social Programs
Set a minimum wage & working hours
Control prices, to avoid unfair exploitation.
“Bennett’s New Deal”- similar to FDR is USA
FDR created jobs with large scale projects
Put money in people’s pockets to spend
Bennett didn’t have the faith of the people
Most saw Bennett’s plan as an attempt to get votes- left it too late
1935- William Lyon Mackenzie King win landslide election

23. Alternative Parties People still fed up with current Political parties
Other parties offered answers or just something different
Social Credit Party
Government of Alberta- 1935
Attacked the Banks
people needed extra money to spend- Social Credit
$25 per month to every Adult
Spread to other provinces and Federal politics
Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation
Teachers, Farmers, Labour reps
Wealth to be share more equally
Government should control key industries
Social programs/ Welfare state
Liberals and Conservatives adopted many of their policies
Became the New Democratic Party

24. AND…. We all lived happily ever after….
Follow Instructions on page 204
(make chart, answer A & B
Just Kidding!