4.3:Government Reaction to the Depression

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Presentation transcript:

4.3:Government Reaction to the Depression February 2014

Fighting the Depression Today, Canada has a system of government support for people who are ill, poor, or unemployed No such system existed in the 1930s & there was general opposition to approaching the government for help Many Canadians believed that if people were poor or unemployed then it was their own fault & they should help themselves

Government Relief During the GD, thousands of men & women who had never asked for help from the govt. or charities were forced to go on relief Financial aid paid from public funds & given to the poor by the govt. By the late 1930s, many Canadians came to believe that govts should play a more direct role in care for it disadvantaged citizens who were often not to blame for their economic difficulties

Private & Public Relief Church & charitable organizations organized soup kitchens to feed the hungry Clothing & shelter to unemployed Milk supplied to women with babies Churches across Canada sent relief shipments to help people on the Prairies

Private & Public Relief Municipal govts also started soup kitchens By 1931-32 they also began providing a form of welfare payment to cover the bare necessities of life…..DOLE

Govt Responses to the GD No one, including Liberal PM King, thought that the Depression would last ten years He thought that the economic situation was normal & the country would fix itself in time So, when a group of Western mayors came to Ottawa seeking help for the unemployed in their cities & towns King claimed it was municipal & provincial responsibility

Govt Responses to the GD When opposition MPs in Parliament suggested King help the unemployed of Canada, King delivered his famous `five-cent piece’ speech In it declared that he would not give a "five-cent piece" to any province that did not have a Liberal government This speech was one of the reasons why Liberals lost the 1930 federal election to the Conservative party under R.B. Bennett who replaced King as our PM.

Govt Responses to the GD In 1931 his govt passed two relief acts that directed $20 million of federal money to municipalities to be spent on public works projects (roads, bridges, dams, govt buildings) Only a small amount went directly to individuals in need

Govt Responses to the GD As conditions worsened, Parliament passed a 3rd relief act in 1932 which abandoned public works projects & focused entirely on relief payments to needy individuals By 1935, 10% of Canada’s population was on relief with families getting preferred treatment For single, young men, thousands left their homes & rode the rails looking for work Without a permanent residence they could not apply for relief

Relief Camps To deal with the 1000s of young unemployed single men travelling the country, the govt decided to set up a chain of relief camps in isolated areas such as interior B.C. Run by the Dept of National Defense, these were designed to keep young men out of the cities where they might congregate & protest workers here were paid 20¢ / day Over 170,000 had spent time there before they were turned over the provinces in 1936 & conditions gradually began improving there

On to Ottawa Trek June 1935: 1800 men tired of life in B.C. relief camps boarded box cars towards Ottawa to protest against the government Along the way, other trekkers joined them in their quest for clear economic reforms (ie. minimum wages, decent system of unemployment and social insurance)

On to Ottawa Trek The trekkers were stopped in Regina by Mounted Police, PM Bennett thought that they were breaking the law and plotting to overthrow his government A riot broke out, dozens were injured, one killed Their complaints fell on unconcerned ears in the government

Bennett Initially very cautious in fighting the Depression, in 1934 he hoped to establish financial stability by creating the Bank of Canada As the 1935 federal election approached he offered Canadians a ‘new deal’ which included such things as unemployment insurance, a minimum wage law, & a shortened work week.

Bennett Names Many Canadians expressed their frustration with the continuing hard times by naming their make-do measures after RM Bennett Bennett Buggies: Cars with no engines pulled by horses Bennett Blankets: Newspapers Bennett Barnyards: Abandoned Prairie farms Bennettburgs: Hobo jungles

Escapism As the crisis worsened, people tried to find relief from their worries & wanted a form of escape from the problems around them

1935 Election Despite the dramatic nature of his reforms, Canadians voted Bennett out of office in 1935 & re-elected King as PM While the Liberal party had won the election over the Conservatives, the inability of these to solve problems during the GD caused people to look to others for solutions

Federal Election Results 1935 New national political parties appeared as a result of the GD & would have great impacts on the future of politics in Canada Party Seat Won Liberal 173 (45% of popular vote) Conservative 40 Social Credit 17 (New parties 26% of PV) CCF 1 Reconstruction Other 7