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maintain currency, and adjust tariff policies. King believed and insisted that relief for unemployment was a local or provincial responsibility. In 1935, during the Canadian federal elections, King and the Liberal Party stated he “would not five a five cent piece to Tory provincial governments.” The Canadian Citizens lost respect for King and voted him out of parliament. In conclusion, Prime Minister King was unsuccessful to provide the Canadian citizens with the relief they needed during the Great Depression due to the fact he was in denial the depression was happening and refused to release federal funds. Also, he believed the depression could be controlled by making miner adjustments to federal funds and tariffs.
Leader of the Conservative Party R.B. Bennett was elected Prime Minister of Canada in 1930. Bennett promised to aid provinces, put unemployed back to work, and to end the depression. He promised to “blast a way into world markets,” by raising tariffs to protect Canadian industry. Voters found Bennett’s promises appealing and he was elected Prime Minister over King. Bennett became wary of the budget short falls by 1932, and cut back severely on federal spending. This only deepened the depression as government employees were put out of work and public work projects were cancelled. In 1935, Bennett created a new policy- to insure unemployment insurance, a reduced work week and minimum wages, industrial codes and permanent economic planning. This was unsuccessful and the provinces challenged the rights of the federal government to manage
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these programs. Bennett raised tariffs levels by almost 50 per cent to protect manufactures
and lead nations to lower tariffs on Canadian goods. Safarian claims “this did nothing to increase exports and in some cases it increased export cost, reducing business.” Bennett government attempted to keep wheat prices from falling further by buying more than 200 million bushels before re-establishing the Wheat Board in 1935 to market wheat and assure farmers a minimum price for their crops. This failed and only resulted in the government losing more money. From 1930-1937, the federal government spent more then $400 million (about 40 per cent of the total cost,) to assist the provinces to fulfill their responsibility for providing unemployment relief.
In 1931, Government Relief Camps were formed because the government was getting worried about the thousands of unemployed single men clogging the streets. The camps were located in Northern British Columbia and housed about 20 000 men. In the camps, men were feed, clothed, paid 20 cents a day and provided with them with shelter and a place to sleep. The men’s work consisted of clearing parkland, building bridges and brushing out biking trails. They government saw these camps as opportunities for the men. They would do good work- a healthy life, all the fresh air they could breath, learning sound work habits, and most important of all, keeping out of trouble. But the men in the work camps saw it a different way. Barry Broadfoot claims “some were actually grabbed off the streets to be sent to isolated work camps. Life was dull, the camps were dirty and
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drab, work was mindless and meaningless and the 20 cents a day was an insult.” Many man in the camp say it was a hopeless system from the beginning, while politicians claimed that on paper it was a very good plan. Generally the food at the camps is usually good although the milk was not always fresh, and the meat was poor quality in many camps. R.B. Sterlin concludes “the mental attitude was very poor: mean were not paid a wage, many are not suited for physical labour, men viewed the camps as a ‘dead-end’, workers felt forgotten, and the camps were isolated from the rest of society.” The government hoped the camps would ease the unrest, but because of the unfair treatment of the men, the government became the focal point of the men’s anger. Men in the camps were frustrated the government could not provide them with meaningful work. In April 1935, the men’s unhappiness boiled over. 15 000 men from British Columbia relief camps went on strike and congregated Vancouver. The movement was months of cross-country protest, which culminated in a riot in the streets of Regina. A year later, the relief camps were shut down. 170, 248 men stayed in the camps.
When the Canadian government failed to deal with the economical set backs of the Great Depression, the citizens were the ones who had to live with it. The first major set back was when Mackenzie Kings failed to release federal funds because he was in denial the depression was happening and thought it would work its self out. Then, Richard Bennett dumped the economic problems on cities that could not deal with the
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issues. Lastly, the Government relief camps that were formed to bring Canada’s economic state back up but ending in a riot because of unfair treatments in the camps. Since Canada did not have and effective system for dispending public welfare, many of the unemployed had to rely on private charity. In conclusion, the federal government failed the Canadian citizens during the great Depression.
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Work Cited
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A.E. Safarian . The Canadian Economy in the Great Depression. : McClelland and Stewart Limited , 1976.
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Barry Broadfoot. Ten Lost Years 1929-1939. : Best Printing Company Limited, 1975.
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Montreal view of Arts, Politics and Culture. The Great Depression In Canada. 2009. May 20, 2011 <>.
"The Great Depression." The Canadian Encyclopedia. ed. 2001.
by
jessica1289 (student)
