From the Roaring 20’s to the depressing 30’s The Interwar Years

The “Roaring 20’s” are general known as a decade of prosperity, fun, and wild living. After the war there was a flood of relief. People wanted to have fun and be care free. The Jazz Age began and so did the BABY BOOM. The 20’s is also known for the amount of STRIKES in Canada. Workers wanted better wages and working conditions. Canada began to URBANIZE and city dwellers began to outnumber the rural population.

THE STOCK MARKET CRASH (oct 1929) In the late 1920’s the economy was going very well. People were wealthy and there were many jobs for everyone. Homelessness was down in Canada as well. Most people from the middle and upper classes were purchasing stocks at an alarming rate and making money on their investment. In Oct 1929 the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. Prices of stocks fell very quickly and thus the stock owners wanted to sell all they had. More than 23 million shares changed hands in one day.

ECONOMIC TRAGEDY Because stocks had been so profitable people had been getting loans from the bank, and paying for STOCKS ON MARGIN STOCKS ON MARGIN were stocks that were bought with only a 10% down payment. It was assumed that the rest of the cost would be covered with the profit from the stocks. BANKS WERE EVEN INVESTING money from peoples accounts in stocks without the owners knowledge. BECAUSE STOCKS LOST THEIR VALUE OVERNIGHT the people who had heavily invested WENT BANKRUPT OVERNIGHT.

Farmers who produced goods were noticing that people in their own countries were buying less. THE FARMERS WERE OVER PRODUCING PRODUCTS. Factories were also over producing. When companies realized this, they fired some of their workers to save money. The U.S also imposed TARIFFS on foreign goods coming into the country. In turn many other countries followed suit- attempting to get people to buy from their own countries. THIS IS CALLED PROTECTIONISM. GERMANY could not pay its war debt from the TREATY OF VERSAILLES. THE ALLIES STARTED RELYING ON THIS REPAYMENT to pay their own loans.

CANADAS DEPENDANCE ON EXPORT TWO EXPORTS WERE VERY IMPORTANT TO CANADA: WHEAT from the PRAIRIES Newsprint from B.C, ONTARIO, and QUEBEC Canada supplied 40% of the world demand for wheat and 65% of the world demand for newsprint AS INTERNATIONAL MARKETS stopped investing in foreign products people in Canada who worked in these industries lost their jobs. WITHOUT JOBS they couldn’t afford to buy other products like radios, telephones, or cars. WITHOUT CUSTOMERS people in these industries also lost their jobs. WITHIN A YEAR MILLIONS OF CANADIANS LOSE THEIR JOBS

SOME WEALTHY AND MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE DIDN’T SEE A HUGE LIFESTYLE CHANGE. Most people, especially factory workers, lost their jobs. People were evicted from their homes because they couldn’t pay rent Factories and businesses closed. Many families depended on government relief payments and soup kitchens/free food organizations By 1933 ¼ of Canada’s workforce was unemployed MANY MEN TRAVELED TO TRY TO FIND WORK: They would take trains to towns all over Canada. This was called RIDING THE RODS.

DROUGHT ON THE PRAIRIES THE PRAIRIES WERE HIT PARTICULARILY HARD BY THE DEPRESSION. They relied on the WHEAT industry and this industry suffered the hardest. Families relied on this market-especially farmers. THE PRARIES WERE HIT BY A DISASTROUS DROUGHT that started in 1928 and lasted almost 8 years. DUST STORMS happened constantly as the ground dried up-stopping farmers from producing crops. PLAGUES OF GRASSHOPPERS also came into the prairie region-eating crops.