1. Theme 3 Governing Canada Managing the War Effort
Lesson 7

2. TLS Worksheet 3.3.1
p. 178
What were some problems with profiteering during World War I?

3. How effectively did the Government meet the Challenges of Fighting a war?
What does the government needed to do to fight the war effectively?

4. Managing and Promoting the War Effort
When Canada went to war again in 1939, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and his Liberal government were determined not to repeat the mistakes Robert Borden’s government made during World War I.

5. Finding the Money
The government needed to buy things such as munitions, food, uniforms, trucks, tanks, planes, fuel, and ships.
The people serving in the armed forces also had to be paid.
During World War I, the government had introduced an income tax that continued after the war.
During World War II, income taxes helped pay for some of the war effort.
But more money was needed, so the government introduced Victory Bonds.

6. Victory Bonds
Posters like these encouraged Canadians to buy Victory Bonds to help pay for the war effort.

7. Finding the Money Bonds were like a loan to the government.
Canadians bought these bonds from the government, and after the war, cashed them in at a profit.
They got back more money than they paid for the bonds.
Victory Bonds were popular.
During the war, Canada’s population of just 11.5 million people bought nearly $9 billion worth.

8. Rate the Governments actions in Finding the Money to conduct the war
TLS Worksheet – Rating the government’s response to wartime challenges

9. Producing War Materials
To make sure the armed forces were well equipped, the government set up a team of businesspeople and government officials to tell factory owners what they must manufacture.
Factories that made cars, for example, were ordered to make tanks and trucks.
The government also created more than 25 crown corporations, which are companies owned by the government.
The purpose of these companies, such as Victory Aircraft Ltd, was to manufacture war materials.

10. Producing War Materials
In addition, items needed by the armed forces were rationed.
Rationing limited the amount of sugar, tea, coffee, butter, meat, alcohol, gasoline, and tires that the public could buy.
Everyone was also urged to save metal, paper, glass, rubber, and rags so that these could be used by factories.
Schools even held contests to see which class could collect the most material.

11. Producing War Materials

12. Rate the Governments actions in Producing War Materials
TLS Worksheet – Rating the government’s response to wartime challenges

13. Keeping Factories Going
During the 1930s, up to one-third of Canadians had been unemployed.
When World War II started, it ended unemployment ---and the Depression.
By 1942, the unemployment rate was nearly zero.
By the end of the war, more than a million Canadians about 10 per cent of the population - were working in war plants.

14. Keeping Factories Going
As the demand for labour increased, wages went up and so did prices.
But King’s government did not want a repeat of what had happened during World War I, when prices rose much faster than wages.
To prevent this, King set up the Wartime Prices and Trade Board to control both prices and wages.
This board set the price for many goods, as well as wage rates.
This meant that few Canadians experienced the hardships that had occurred during World War 1.

15. Rate the Governments actions in Keeping Factories Going
TLS Worksheet – Rating the government’s response to wartime challenges
What overall rating would you give the Government? Why?

16. Show You Know
Imagine that you are in charge of making the wartime rules. Some workers are too important to let them enlist in the military. Name three jobs that you think are so important that workers should not be allowed to enlist. Explain the reasons for your choices.