History 2201E Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: William Lyon Mackenzie King, The Human Face, Stock Market
2 May 2018
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February 13, 2018
The Interwar Period: Part II
The Balfour Report, 1926
- Landmark document in Canada’s trajectory to self-governing nationhood
- resolution to the King-Byng Affair
- Marks the beginning of Canada’s independence in foreign affairs
- Leads to the statute of Westminster in 1931
Names and Terms: Imperial Conferences, Lord Arthur J. Balfour, Prime Minister William Lyon
Mackenzie King, Governor General Julian Byng
Canada During the 1920s
o Not much done
o Mackenzie needed alliance with progressives, did little for the urban poor
o Progressives believed the urban poor had to move to the country to make money
▪ The people protesting in Winnipeg
o No large scale government attempt to address poverty and disparity
▪ Society mandated with gov’t support
- Liberal and conservative gov’t during the depression
o Neither could address the economic and social issue in the depression
o Or solve the economic crisis
Part I: Statistics and Economics
- Not just Black Tuesday, 29 October 1929
o Start of the depression
o Stock market crashed
o No easy ways to get out of a great depression
o Was unexpected and no clear alternative courses of action to prevent it from
happening
- Stranggled trade
o Catastrophic in Canada
o An export-dependent economy
- End of 1920s, dependent on export of raw materials
o Canadian suppliers had over extended themselves
▪ 39% increase in manufacturing
- Additional factors influencing economic decline: Europe, New York
o The international context: European difficulties
o Was not global until black Tuesday
o North American stock markets undermined by large investments
▪ Not a sustainable financial system
- The domestic context: a “paper economy”
- Economic stagnation=no new capital investments=no new employment=lessened investor
confidence=vicious cycle!
- By 1933, the national income was 55% compared to 1929
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o More than ¼ Canadians out of work
o Saskatchewan the hardest hit due to drought
- Bennett buggy (1935)
o Car being pulled by horses because the car owners could not afford gasoline
Part II: Implications of The Great Depression on the Lives of Ordinary Canadians
The Human Face of the Great Depression
- Individuals of family struggling with poverty and permanent economic setbacks
- Prime Minister R.B. Bennett responds to desperate letter writers
o Shows his effort to help the economic situation
- No option but to rely on state or charity for sustenance
o Need financial support
o Apply with a letter detailing their personal failings
- High levels of unemployment => relying on government for help
- Everyone suffered: Prairie farmers, miners, university professors, factory workers
o Want better conditions in the mines
- 1932 – single males sent to Relief Camps; ensuing camp tensions
o Established in 1932 to keep unemployed men occupied and away for cities
o Concerned for dangers of protests and revolutions in Canadian cities
o Weren’t paid for work but had food and medical attention
o 1933 – under the control of military
▪ Many referred as the royal 20centers
- Workers Unity League
o Increase wages, social insurance problems, sick leave and getting rid of military
administration
o All the requests denied
- June 1935 and the ‘On-to-Ottawa Trek’ led to the 1 July 1935 Regina Riot
o For guys working on Relief Camps
o Reached momentum until it reached regina and stalled
o Bennet halted strike and got RCMP to step in
o Regina riot – trying to disband 3,000 protesters
Names and Terms: 1935 Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, Miners Workers Union of
Canada, Workers Unity League, Arthur Evans, Conn Smythe
Part III: Political Implications of the Great Depression
- R. B. Bennett – “the Great Depression Prime Minister”
o prime minister for only half of the depression
- his efforts to address the economic problems
o 20 million to unemployment relief
o A per capita
o Conservatives reluctant to consider a long term scheme
▪ Don’t want people dependnant on the state
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
