The Roaring Twenties
1920’s
Decade of prosperity, fun and wild
living
 Era of the “Jazz Age”

• New fashion
• New music
• New Art
• New Fads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJSdk44gWIE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceUJy04rfAw
Fashion: 1920’s Flapper
a "new breed" of young women
 Short skirts, bobbed their hair
 Disliked “acceptable behavior”
 Engaged in drinking & smoking
 Treated sex in a casual manner
 Questioned the “traditional”
role of women

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwG-kRi0-Y&feature=related
Art Deco
popular international
design movement
 affecting architecture,
interior design, fashion,
painting, the graphic arts,
and film
 Combination of many styles of the
20th C
 purely decorative
 At the time, this style was seen as
elegant, functional, and modern

1920s Fads – Dances


“The Charleston”
The “Foxtrot”
Foxtrot - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyOWM6S1ITA
Charleston - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJC21zzkwoE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myq6hg2gcWw&feature=related
Literature

“The Great Gatsby”
• Popular book in 1920s
Canadian
novelist
Mazo de la Roche
published a very
popular series, “Jalna”
Fads - Movies

Mary Pickford –
Canadian
actress who
achieved
movie-star
status
Canadian Invention - Insulin
Insulin – as treatment
for diabetes
 Dr. Fredrick Banting
discovered working at
the University of
Toronto

1st Flight across Atlantic

May, 1927 Charles
Lindberg flew
the 1st nonstop solo
trans-Atlantic
flight from NY
to Paris in 33
½ hours
1920s “A Decade of Adjustment”
The country moved
towards isolationism and
greater autonomy from
Britain
 Economy diversified and
became more dependent
on American investment
 Labour, women and
aborignial people struggled
for legal, social and
economic equality

Popular culture
became more
“Americanized” and the
literary and visual arts
experienced a
renaissance

Growth of Regionalism




Regionalism: concern of
various different regions
of the country with their
own local problems
Maritimes population is
a small region therefore
they had fewer seats in
parliament
Oil replaced coal, yet
Maritimes had coal
Maritimes Rights
Movement formed
Federalism/Regionalism (cont.)





There were also regional
challenges from Prairies and
Ontario
Farmers angered by National
Policy because tariffs/duties
placed on foreign goods
imported into Canada
Farmers wanted free trade,
abolish tariffs and allow them to
buy cheap machinery
1919 federal Thomas Crerar
created the Progessive Party
Wanted a new National Party
based on free trade and
ownership of railways
Thomas Crerar
1921 Election

MacKenzie King – leader
of Liberal party
• Believed in the middle
path

Arthur Meighen – leader
of the Conservatives
Mackenzie King
• Believed in principles over
compromise; didn’t care if
he offended anyone

Liberals elected 117
seats; Conservatives 55
seats; Progressives 64
seats
Meighen
1921 Election
Liberals were a
minority
government
 Progressive Party
did not last very
long
 1926 – King
challenged by the
Progressives to set
up Old Age
Pensions Act
 Act was passed in
1927: $240/yr

Growing Independence
From Britain
 1922:
King refused to support Britain
when they invaded the Turkish Empire
 1923: King insisted Canada be
allowed to sign an international treaty
known as the Halibut Treaty without
British representative’s signature
 1926: King challenged Britain over its
influence on Canada’s internal politics
known as King- Byng Crisis
 1926: Participated in Balfour Report
King
1926 - King-Byng Crisis
1925 – minority government
Liberals formed with support of 28
Progressive Party members;
 Without the Progressives, Liberals
only had 101 seats, Conservatives
had 116
 Liberals lost Progressive Party
support because of a liquor
smuggling scandal

• King’s ministers were protecting the
individuals and even profiting off of
the illegal liquor sales to the United
States (prohibition was on in the USA at
this time

Conservatives called for a motion
of censure the Liberals and Liberal
lost
Byng
King- Byng – cont’
King asked Byng to dissolve
parliament to call another
election; Byng refused and
asked Meighen to form the
government instead
 Byng eventually forced to
called an election after
Meighen lost a confidence
vote 3 months later
 Sept 14, 1926, King won
majority.

Meighen
1923 - Halibut Treaty
Treaty Agreement
concerning closed
season on Halibut fishing
in the North Pacific
 King wished to eliminate
British representation from
Canada’s treaty-making
process
 Canada signed the treaty
on her own without any
involvement from Britain –
first time.

Chanak Crisis - 1922



Turkish war in which British
troops stationed in Chanak,
a neutral zone near the
Dardanelles, were
threatened by Turkish
nationalists
Britain appealed to
Canadian people for aid in
preventing Turkish
occupation of Chanak
King said parliament must
decide whether or not to
send troops; did not go
 Pointed out need for
when asked; Canadians did
greater Canadian
not want to get involved
control over foreign
policy – First time
Canada refused to
come to Britain’s aid
Imperial Conference 1926

Dominions of the
British Empire
requested
autonomy & to
define status of
“Dominion”
 Canada, Australia,
New Zealand,
South Africa
 Autonomy: the
freedom to
govern themselves

Resulted in Balfour
Report – 1926
Balfour Report - 1926
created new status for
Dominion countries
 clarified Governor General’s
role in Dominions - now
representative of the crown –
not agent of British government
 defined Dominions as
autonomous communities –
equal in status and not
subordinate to Britain
 recognized greater autonomy in
domestic and external affairs
 became law in 1931 when the
Statute of Westminster was
passed

Balfour Report (cont.)

Two Restrictions:
1. Canada’s constitution, the British North
America Act, remained in Britain,
because the Canadian federal and
provincial governments could not agree
on an amending formula
 Amending Formula - Procedure for changing
the Canadian Constitution
2. Judicial Court of Appeal (Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council) for
Canadians resided in Britain until 1949
Statute of Westminster - 1931
made Balfour Report legal
 officially recognized
Dominions as members of
the British
Commonwealth, NOT
colonies of the British
Empire
 Canada now able to
conduct its own Foreign
Affairs and Relations

Signing of Statute of Westminster
Economic Boom
The 1920’s started in
depression.
 During the 1920’s the US
started investing in
Canada’s economy.
 US Companies set up
‘branch plants’ such as
auto plants, which
operated here but for
American business men.

• US enriched Canada’s
economy by extracting or
harvesting raw materials
(primary resources)
• Materials were transported to
US for processing and
manufacturing (secondary
resources)
Economic Boom (cont.)

With the increase
in employment
and economic
prosperity few
Canadians
questioned the
long term effects
of American
involvement.
PM King & US President Roosevelt
Bootlegging Across the Border

The Women’s Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU)
pushed prohibition into
legislation in Canada and
the US.
• Prohibition: the sale,
manufacture, and
transportation (bootlegging)
of alcohol was illegal.


By 1920, provincial
governments in Canada
were overturning the
decision because of its
unpopularity.
The US, however, enforced
it until 1933. Canadians sold
illegal alcohol over the
border for about 10 years.
USA- Prohibition and
Speakeasies

A speakeasy was an
establishment that secretly
sold alcoholic beverages in
the USA during the
Prohibition (1920-1933)

The term comes from a
patron's manner of ordering
alcohol without raising
suspicion — a bartender
would tell a patron to be
quiet and "speak easy".
Prosperity =
Urbanization & Luxuries
With the new booming
economy Canadians
were afforded more
opportunities to enjoy
the luxuries of life.
 Telephone lines were
becoming
commonplace for all
houses in cities.
 Motorized vehicles were
becoming affordable
and popular.

Prosperity = Automobiles

The Custer car (right) was an early alternative fuel
car and you can see from the pictures that it
looked as if it came from Munchkin Land.
Professional Sports

Professional sports were also increasing in
popularity