Bust, Boom and Bust
• Canada began the 1920’s in a state of
economic depression and jobs were scarce
• There was lots of Inflation, as more
money was printed, which reduced the
overall value of money
• By mid decade, the economy was booming,
fueled by growth in exports of natural
resources and manufacturing
• The USA invested heavily in Canada and
opened branch plants to get around
Canadian tariff walls
• New technology made life better such as
cars, telephones and radio
• A new Canadian art genre was created by
the Group of Seven and Emily Carr
• (But the good life was not to last… )
The Crash
• The stock market fueled much of the prosperity of
the 1920’s
• People were encouraged to invest in the market,
many did so buying on margin (buying on credit)
because people thought they would get rich quick
and pay back the interest
• It was assumed stock prices would keep increasing
• Easy to obtain credit was also being used to buy
consumer goods as well
– Too much use of credit and buying on margin created a
“bubble”
• Industry and farms were over producing, relying on
very high consumerism
• In October 1929, people started to sell their shares
as the value of stocks fell and the “bubble”
collapsed
• Many people who borrowed to buy shares went
bankrupt, and the banks were unable to support
the unpaid loans so they also went bankrupt
• This marks the beginning of the Great
Depression, a time of hardship and
unemployment
• People were unable to buy goods, which caused
factories and farmers to lose lots of money