Government Response to the
Great Depression
Majority Government
Social Services
Relief Camps
On-To-Ottawa
Bennett’s New Deal
King’s View of the Great Depression
• Believed the situation
was temporary
• Argued that relief and
social services were the
responsibility of
Municipal and Provincial
Governments
“not a five cent piece” to a
Conservative Government
Lost 1930 Election
Richard Bedford Bennett
• Conservative Prime
Minister 1930 -1935
• Not in favour of relief
either, but he
introduced several
measures to help
Canadians
- Some did more harm than
good
Unemployment Relief Act
• Gave the provinces 20
Million dollars for
work creation
programs
Ex. Road construction, ditch
digging, garbage collection
- Despite this spending,
the economy did not
improve
Increased Tariffs
• Bennett tried to “use
tariffs to blast a way”
into world markets
and out of the
depression
- Raised tariffs by more
than 50% to protect
Canadian businesses
- World Wide Domino effect
Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act 1935
• To help farmers build
irrigation systems
and reservoirs
• TOO LATE
- Many farms already
abandoned
Red Scare- ahhhh!
• Bennett feared the large
number of jobless men
would come under the
influence of the
Communist Party
• 1931 Bennett outlawed
Communist campaigning
Relief Camps
• Bennett created a
national network of work
camps for single men as a
way to provide relief
- 17000 men
• Problems:
-
Deep in the woods
20 cents a day!
Infested housing
Rotten food
Bennett
Becomes a Joke
Bennett became
a target for
people’s
frustration and
anger
“Bennett Buggy”
Bennett
Blanket”
“Bennett
Barnyard”
On-To-Ottawa Trek 1935
On-To-Ottawa Trek 1935
• A massive traveling
protest by
unemployed single
men in BC protesting
relief camp
conditions
- led by the Relief Camp
Workers Union
- Vancouver to Ottawa
- By the time they reached
Regina, over 2000 men
Bennett’s Response to the Trek
• Called in the RCMP to
stop the Trek in
Regina
• Only Union leaders
allowed to carry on to
Ottawa
- Accused of being Communists
Regina Riot 1935
• RCMP ordered to
clear the Trekkers
from the local
stadium in Regina
- Trekers resisted
- Battle lasted for hours
Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal
• US President 1933
introduced the New
Deal that created
public work programs
for the unemployed
and farmers
- Provided social assistance such
as unemployment insurance
Bennett’s New Deal
-
Progressive taxation
Unemployment and work health insurance
Regulated work hours, wages, conditions
Revised old age pensions
Canadian Wheat Board to regulate prices
Bank of Canada Act to decide national policies