Video Clip
 As you watch the clip, write down what your
impressions are from it, and any feelings that you
may have.
 What do you think the clip is trying to convey
 What do you see as some causes of the Great
Depression (seen in the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gplaqa2yRgg
Lead up to Depression
 Canada and the US were facing an issue of overproduction because of the ability to mass produce.
 When factories had to cut down on the number of
products it forced owners to lay off workers.
 The more people that were laid off the fewer the
number of people could buy the products the
factories made and so the cycle continued.
(remember the business cycle?)
Canada and the Depression
 The depression in Canada was made worse because of
the problems American investment had created.
 Canada depended on American investment which
suddenly halted when the stock market crashed on
Black Tuesday October 29, 1929.
Desperate Years
 As people lost jobs, they lost homes and were
evicted
 Loss of jobs also meant the loss of respect
 Thousands existed on “pogey”
 Pogey: Government relief payments given to those who
had no alternative source of income



People waited publicly in line for hours, facing humiliation
Declare financial failure
Prove that they were evicted and owned nothing of value
Desperate Times Call for
Desperate Measures
 Private charities helped those who were desperate,
 Provided clothing and meals
 Soup kitchen
The Dust Bowl
 Collapse of the wheat market
 Prairies were hit by a drought from 1928 that lasted
almost eight years
 Palliser’s Triangle – semi arid area in S. Alberta and
Saskatchewan worst hit
 Plague of grasshoppers, stalled trains, buses,
clogged car radiators
 1935: Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration
Act – helped farmers build irrigation systems and
reservoirs
The Dust Bowl
The Women and Minorities
 Women had few jobs, other than domestic work
 Aboriginal families on relief got $5/month
 Immigrants were viewed with hostility when they
competed for scarce jobs
 Jews were targeted, suffered from anti-Semitism
Responding to Depression
 Mackenzie King believed that it was municipal and
provincial responsibility to provide financial help
 King lost election in 1930 replaced by R.B Bennett
(Conservatives)
Bennett’s Response
 Pledged to “use tariffs to blast a way” into the world
markets and out of Depression
 Raised tariffs by 50% to protect Canadian industries
 Caused trade barriers against Canada
Work Camps
 Located in woods, completely isolated
 Build roads, clear land, digging drainage ditches
 Paid 20 cents/day;
 Given room and board
 Food was terrible, bunks infested with bugs
Video Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCNKq0-9p3w
Politics of Protest: CCF
 Canadians looked to alternative parties because of
Depression
 Cooperative Commonwealth Federation was
formed in West in 1932
 Leader was J.S. Woodsworth
 Appealed to wide range; farmers, labourers, socialists,
intellectuals
 CCF was a socialist party
 Support for social programs
 Government to spend $ on public works
J.S. Woodsworth
Provincial Solutions
 Provincial leaders attempted to put down strikes.
 In Quebec, Maurice Duplessis, brought the
Union Nationale party to power in 1936. In an
example of worsening French and English
relations: Duplessis blamed Quebec’s social and
economic problems on the English minority in
Quebec.
Provincial Solutions (cont.)
 Duff Pattullo, Premier in BC, shortened the
work day, increased the minimum wage, and
increased work relief payments by 20 percent.
 “A Little New Deal”
 Mayors and the Premier in BC were resented
less than Bennett, but were still blamed for
being ineffective in the fight to slow the
depression.
 The reactions of the provincial governments
varied depending on which province you were
in
Increased Tension
 King created Rowell-Sirois Commission to
examine federal-provincial relations
 Recommended that federal government grant
equalization payments
 Wealthier provinces were angered, may thought it
would be loss of provincial power
 However, the economy had already made a turn
around
It wasn’t all bad…
 Entertainment: movies, magazines, romance
 Canadians audiences preferred US shows, federal
government created a public radio service which
became the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(CBC)
 Grey Owl; conservationist
 Devoted latter part of his life to the preservation of
northern Canadian forests and disappearing beaver
Grey Owl – The Conservationist