1. 4.1 Finding Social Justice
Cluster 4: Achievements & Challenges

3. The Roaring 20s
Countries recovering from WWI experienced an economic boom in the 1920s
Demand for Canadian products such as wheat was strong
Good times led to an increase in buying on credit (borrowed money)
Banks started lending money for goods like household furnishings and cars
Household debts grew dramatically
Canada also exported newsprint, lumber and many types of minerals.
Within Canada, demand for consumer goods such as cars and radios grew. Industries had developed assembly lines that helped them mass produce goods more quickly and for less money than ever before.
These changes meant more people could afford to buy items once considered luxuries, such as washing machines.
Many people moved from rural areas to cities to take manufacturing jobs. Other people took jobs providing services for the growing urban population.
One outcome of these changes was the increased use of credit-borrowed money. Before the 20s, grocers had sometimes extended credit for food and fuel. Amounts owed by households were small and the credit was given for short periods of time only. But in the 20s, merchants and banks began lending money for goods such as household furniture and cars.

4. The Stock Market Credit was also available for the stock market
Paying very little up front, even average citizens could invest
The stock market in the 1920s boomed, setting new records
Investors sometimes borrowed heavily
They assumed they could pay off their debt with the increased value of the stocks
Credit was available for investing in the stock market, which appealed to people who wanted to share in the promise of huge profits.

7. Causes of the Depression
With a partner, read page 319 in your textbook and prepare responses to the following questions. We will discuss as a class.
What was the danger in farmers borrowing so heavily?
What did they not anticipate?
2) When was Black Tuesday? What happened?
3) What were some immediate consequences of Black Tuesday?

11. Impact of the Depression
While most Canadians didn’t lose money in the stock market crash, everyone felt the effects of the economic decline
Unemployment rates ran rampant in Canada
1928: 2.6%
1930: 12.6%
1933: 26.6%
Feb, 2015: 6.8%

13. Regional Challenges Prairie and Atlantic provinces were hit hardest
Prairie provinces
Unemployment rates as high as 50%
Atlantic Provinces
Coal mines were being shut down as hydroelectric power took over
Railway rates went up more than 200%, meaning goods produced in the Maritimes were more expensive

14. Decline in Average Annual Incomes
Who was hit hardest?
Decline in Average Annual Incomes
Province
1933
Alberta
$548
$212
B.C.
$594
$314
Manitoba
$466
$240
New Brunswick
$292
$180
Nova Scotia
$322
$207
Ontario
$549
$310
PEI
$278
$154
Quebec
$391
$220
Saskatchewan
$478
$135
What conclusions can you make?
Did anyone notice there is a province missing?

15. The Dust Bowl After 1929, grain prices plummeted
In 1930, the southern prairies began experiencing drought lasting on and off for a decade
Overworked land turned topsoil to dust, which blew away and caused dust storms which could block out the sun
Clouds of grasshoppers destroyed entire crops
Farming equipment, as well as basic necessities, increased in price while farming income fell
In 1928, a bushel of wheat earned a farmer 80 cents. By1932, it was only worth 35 cents.
Sometimes the grasshoppers descended on an are like a cloud, stripping the heads off wheat and eating anything that was green. Some people reported grasshoppers eating fresh laundry off a line.
Farmers could not afford to buy even the basic necessities. In 1928 in SK, the average farmer’s annual income was $1614, by 1933, it was only $66.
Many men left their farms to look for work in the cities.

17. How do you think these storms affected the mood and outlook of people suffering economic problems?

18. The land had reached the point where it had been worked and worked and harrowed and ploughed so much that it was very fine. There was nothing to hold it and it just picked up and blew across the countryside. You look out and see this great cloud of dust coming and then you’re in it and you can hardly see twenty feet ahead. The grit gets into your nose and mouth and into the houses, drifting in under the doors and windows. By 1936 the sky in Moose Jaw and Regina was perennially overcast and the sidewalks were gritty with dust under your feet.
-Janice Patton

20. Government Response #1
At the start of the Depression, William Lyon Mackenzie King (Liberal) was the Prime Minister
He, like many others at first, believed the downswing was just a normal part of the business cycle
Because of the division of federal and provincial powers in the BNA Act, provinces had limited means for raising money but all responsibility for social programs
i.e. health care, education, unemployment assistance
King refused to help, maintaining unemployment was a provincial responsibility
Even if King had been inclined to help the provinces, he would have had trouble raising the money to do so. Most of the federal government’s income came from tarrifs and sales taxes. With the economic collapse, less money was coming in to the federal government, which was struggling with its own debts.
However, to voters, King appeared indifferent to their problems.

21. Who might have disagreed with this point of view?
What impression does the cartoon give you of Prime Minister King’s response to the provinces?
Who might have disagreed with this point of view?
In refusing demands to give money to the provinces for unemployment relief, King famously said he would not give the Conservative governments “a five-cent piece.”

22. Government Response #2
R.B. Bennett (Conservative) used King’s apparent indifference to win the 1930 election
Formed government during the worst years of the Great Depression ( )
He also didn’t anticipate the severity of the Depression
Expected the situation to turn around without intervention
1930, introduced tariffs to protect Canadian manufacturers from international competition
Because other countries did the same, this only made the situation worse

24. Relief Efforts
Despite his personal view on government handouts, the severity of the Depression forced Bennett to offer help
1931, the Unemployment Relief Act allocated $20 million
Vouchers for food, clothing, and shelter
Seen as humiliating
Public works projects
Cutting grass, digging ditches
Preference for men with families
Provinces provided less than the lowest-paying jobs to encourage people to continue searching for employment

25. Work Camps Set up in 1932 for unemployed single men
Meant to discourage radicalism and protest/riots
Provided basic necessities
Food, shelter, army-style clothing, 20 cents per day
Worked long hours building bridges, highways, etc.
Many National Parks were developed by work camp labourers
What inferences does this photograph help you make about the Great Depression?

26. The On-to-Ottawa Trek
Instead of preventing social unrest, the deplorable conditions of the camps led to more problems
Summer, 1935, workers travelled on trains from Vancouver toward Canada’s capital city
Collective journey to take their demands to the federal government
By June 14, 2400 men gathered in Regina
Bennett demanded the RCMP stop the trek in Regina
Many young men were dissatisfied: they planned to go to Ottawa to demand jobs from the government. The men would ride the rails from town to town picking up more protesters as they moved east.

28. Canadians were upset by the RCMP’s use of violence in the Regina Riot
A delegation of trek organizers met with the federal government in Ottawa on June 22, but returned to Regina in frustration
As marchers gathered on July 1 for a public meeting, RCMP moved in to arrest the leaders
The resulting riot left one policeman dead and hundreds of others injured or arrested
Canadians were upset by the RCMP’s use of violence in the Regina Riot
Public opinion turned against Bennett’s government
Nothing was ever done about unemployment.
Their protest was thwarted without any reply from the government.

30. Growth of the Welfare State
The Depression helped change Canadian’s expectations about the role of government
Many expected government intervention for those in need
Between 1931 and 1982, Canada became a welfare state
Has a variety of government programs to ensure all citizen have a minimum standard of living
Also called Social Security, or Social Safety Net
A Royal Commission recommended the federal government take on unemployment insurance and old age pensions
Also recommended equalization payments
Equalization Payments are transfers of money from the federal government to provinces with lower tax revenues. These payments are intended to make standards of living in all the provinces more equal.

31. Welfare State Old Age Security Universal Health Care
Unemployment Insurance
Family Allowance
Welfare

32. Discussion
Get into groups of 2-4 and discuss the following prompts. Be prepared to share what you discuss with the class… 1. Do you think these programs are a direct consequence of the Depression, or do you believe they would have been developed even if the Depression had not happened? 2. Do you believe that one of the roles of government should be social programs and economic intervention? Why or why not? 3. Many Canadians identify its social programs as part of Canada’s identity. Do you agree? Why or why not?

33. Describe the causes and consequences of the Great Depression
Describe the causes and consequences of the Great Depression. Explain how the consequences are historically significant.