The Great Depression

Were Canada’s government’s responses to the Great Depression adequate?

By: Prateek Madhika

 
Were Canada’s government’s responses to
The Great Depression adequate?

After World War I ended in 1919, Canada had a small recession during the World war, but after the war, Canada had the fastest growing economy in the world. The 1920s had been a successful period of growth for Canada, with living standards improving remarkably. Then suddenly, in the late 1920s the economy took a sharp turn for the worse. The depression originated in the US, directly caused by the spark of the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday, but quickly spread to almost every country in the world due to globalization. Canada was then in depression from 1929 until 1939 when World War II started.

The depression had a big impact on the Canadian economy, and it hurt the economy very severely. The people of Canada could not do anything to help get themselves out of the depression but be dependent on the government to help them out. Everyone in Canada was relying on the government to help them out as the depression lasted. But, the government did not do as expected to do. The government either ignored issues, or suggested inefficient methods of solving problems, passed the responsibility of solving a problem onto provinces, took inadequate actions or even worsened them. When 27% of Canadians were unemployed, the government thought that this issue was a local issue and therefore the responsibility of solving it should be given to the provinces. The government could not resolve the economic issue as the other countries, such as the US, did. Although the Unemployment Relief Act allotted $20 million to be used to relief , it was not enough. Many Canadians were unhappy of how the government was “helping” the people during the depression. They were not satisfied of what the government was doing, or not doing to help them. The government was taking poor people off the street and into “relief camps” in remote areas. The relief camps gave jobs to the jobless and gave shelter and food to the ones without it. Although the ...

-35 /day 1.5 12 19 1919 1920s 1929 1930 1932 1933 1935 1936 1939 20 24 27 29 4 40 60 aberhart abl across act action adequ administr affect afford aid allot allow almost also although alway anoth anybodi anyth april area around ask assign assur attempt author b.c bad base behind bennett better big bit black blade blame block box brought bug bug-infest bunk buy calgari call came camp canada canadian car care case catch caught caus cent challeng children citi clear co co-op collaps come commerci common commonwealth complet condit conserv constant control could count countri crash credit crisi cross d dad day deal decad decid deep defici degrad delano depend depress depth destroy diet difficulti direct discredit diseas dismal dissatisfi done door downtown drive drop due earn east eat econom economi effect effici effort either elect elig els employ end enough establish etc even ever everi everyon everyth expect expenditur extrem eye fail failur fall famili fastest feder fiscal five fix food form four franklin gave get give given glass global go good govern great gross grow growth half halifax haphazard hard hast help high homeless hous howev hundr hungri hurt idea ignor ii impact import imposs improv inadequ includ ineffici infest insist instead insur interior introduc isol issu job jobless keep kid king know known land larg last late lead leader leav led left liber life littl live local locat lose loss mackenzi made madhika mail man manag mani market mean meant medic men method million minimum money month movement much municip nation need new newli northern noth octob offici oh old on-to-ottawa one ontario onto onward open oper option origin ottawa paid part parti pass payment peel peopl per period person pick plan plaster polici polit poor possibl prateek pray prefer primarili problem product program promis protest provid provinc provinci quarter quick quit r.b rate razor reach rear recess reduc refus regina reli relief remark remot repli report requir resolv respons rest result right room roosevelt satisfi save scatter school scurvi seem sender sent serious seven sever shape sharp shelter show side sight singl sleep slick small social solut solv somebodi someon someth sound spark spend spit spread standard start starvat state stay stock stop street streetcar strict strike striker success sudden suggest surviv take talk terribl therefor thing think thought throughout thus ticket time tin took toss transfer transport trek tri trick troubl tuesday turn two type unemploy unhappi unit unsuccess upon us use useless usual vari vote w.l wage wait want war went west western whistl william without wood work worker world wors worsen worth would