It had already been 7 years since the Great Depression hit Canada on October 29, 1929. The economic shock that it caused led to unemployment for many Canadians. And with the draught happening in the Prairies many people, mainly farmers, had suffered. The Great Depression had hit many countries worldwide, but not many had suffered severely as Canada did. It had been because of the sudden decline of economic demand and the widespread drops in commodity prices that led to the rapid decline in global trade and unemployment. This had been bad news to Canada because one third of Canada’s Gross National Income had come from trading with various countries. Between the years 1929 and 1933, the country’s Gross National Expenditure fell by 42%, this
One of such events that affected Canada economically is the Drought in the Dust Bowl. The Prairies became the worst place to live in Canada because the price of wheat has dropped from $1.60 per bushel to $.38 per bushel and because of that many farmers abandoned their farms to look for other jobs. Drought returned in 1933 and was five years long with limited amount rainfall which also caused the topsoil to turn into dust and caused dust storms due to too powerful winds. Because of the right conditions thousands and thousands of grasshoppers were born and damaged 80% of crops that remained. It was bad for Canada because it just lost the people who produced on of its primary products wheat and now the Canada has no choice but to buy wheat from other countries and those can price it for whatever they want because Canada is in need. Secondly, the Stock Market Crashed on October 29, 1929 “Black Tuesday.” Many people invested large amounts of money into the stock market because as the value of the stock increased the more money they made when they sold it and to many it became like an easy way to make money. For example, Canadian Marconi, a radio company should have sold at $1 but sold for $28 because the market value inflated. Canada was affected by this because when the Stock Market crashed people who invested hugely into stocks lost large amounts of because they sold them for a fraction of the what they purchased it. People took
The Great Depression was a terrible point in Canadian history, and for most of the world. It was a point in time where thousands of people lost their jobs, and even lost their homes because of the depressed economy. Business was booming in the early 1920s, but when companies tried to expand, and therefore issued stocks, the economy was thrown off. Some investors sold their stocks for high prices, and as a result, everyone else followed. With less of a demand, stock prices became fractions of what they used to be, and on October 29, 1929, the New York Stock Exchange collapsed, followed by the Toronto and Montreal Stock exchanges. This collapse of the stock markets caused a depression like which the world had never seen before. It was
The Canadian economy grew to an impressive scale during the 1910’s and 20’s but this was due to the country being established. Agriculture and tradesman ship were encouraged to grow so that the country did not have to rely on the imports from other countries. During the Great War it was very common to stockpile almost every item you could obtain. The war was initially intended to be a short lived one but Canadian became increasingly unsure during these times purchased everything that they could. Then the war ended but the demand for products had declined. If demand decreases then so will the price of the product. Those who profit off selling the products have reduced so much that they are no longer profitable and in most cases it is easier
The great depression that affected major economies originated from the United States in the early 1923 when the stock market had crashed affecting all the sectors of the economy in terms of revenues collected, personal income and profit margins. The rate of unemployment rose to greater heights in the United States. The International trade volumes went down as countries were wary of doing business with one another with most of the affected countries having cuts on their spending to cushion their economies against further economic uncertainties in the future.
The depression years of 1929 - 1939 proved to be the worst, and some of the best years for Canada and Canadians. It was a time of extreme highs and lows socially, emotionally, and economically. It was a time that Canada came into her own being on the world wide stage.
Canada in the 1930s was in a state of economic depression and the people, notably living in the west, were finding it difficult to secure a source of income. R.B. Bennett was elected as Prime Minister by Canadians in 1930 on the basis that he would end unemployment, but by 1932 his government was seemingly overwhelmed by the persistence of the Depression and was becoming
During 1920s, people invested in stock market. As the stocks kept climbing higher and higher, more and more people were investing. Some people threw large amounts of money into stock market. Large companies borrowed money to expand their company. On October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday, stock market plummeted. People rushed and panicked to sell stocks. Everyone was selling and nobody was buying. The stock market crashed which led to the beginning of the Great Depression known as dirty thirties. It caused long economic slump. Prices fell like stone. Families were left homeless. Men wondered around in search of work. Prairies suffered greatly. Canada was hit hard by the decline of trade. The Great Depression had a negative impact on Canada politically, socially and economically.
Canada’s economy boosted immensely after WW2. Due to Canada’s boost in the industrial economy and it’s status in WWII there were many job opportunities available. Canada’s most important sector in its economy was agriculture. Canada supplied many resources and raw materials to the war resulting in an economy boom, however they still had their debt of over $10 million dollars. The need of many supplies for the war had resulted in mass productivity of many factories across the country.
The Great Depression also is known as the Dirty Thirties happened in the 1930s. It left Canada and the world in shock. Millions of Canadians were without jobs, and many became homeless. Countries across the world were affected by the Depression, such as the U.S.A. The USA was hit the hard which affected Canada. USA rely on Canada for fish and wheat when the U.S economy goes down Canada suffers. The U.S didn’t buy any more fish,wheat,minerals,pulp and paper from Canada. Many countries put high tariffs on goods,trading slowed down,people had to pay back their credit money they had borrowed from the government.Farmers were hit the hardest in Canada because if you could not pay for the land you would get evacuated. Droughts and grasshoppers infection started to happen which brought more suffering. Meat prices went up,some stores were closed down,Immigrant dropped 90% violence and crime went up. Men that didn’t have houses were sent to reliefs camps,the military setup 20 000 men to work sometimes works was useful,other times they would make work projects. They got 3 daily meals, work clothes,medical care, and 20 cents a day.The men would work 44 hours of cleaning brush,building roads,planting trees and constructing the public building.On April 1935, 500 men went on strike for better living conditions,more pay and fewer hours this has been just like the Winnipeg general strike. This depression made Canada what it is today,the economy is in better shape,people can find jobs and immigrants are taking over
The more time that Canadians spent in this situation, the more they felt hopeless. 10 years without a job, without a solid source of income, without anyone to go to for help, this was the hardest part of the whole depression. “The Great Depression” written by Pierre Berton who is a famous Canadian author of Non-fiction books who lived through the depression and writes about experiences he faced in the depression “... the average yearly income was $500 and the minimum amount needed for a family of 4 is double that”. 1937 was an extremely important year given this is the year that the Bank of Canada was nationalized along with the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC). These two advances helped with the financial and cultural recovery.
Understanding the brunt of the situation, The response and actions of Canadians during the great depression may be seen as inefficient. Notably, the economic downfall of regions across Canada and Federal negligence towards struggling citizens had influenced regionalism, resulting in the isolation amongst the regions of Canada. Evidently, as the maritime and central region of Canada fall due to the loss of agricultural, bankruptcy, and distraught, rebelling members of the liberal and conservative party had joined Maurice Duplessis in forming the Union National. With the intention of aiding and benefitting the francophone regions of Canada (Quebec), other regions were left in economical distraught. The union had strengthened due to its region
The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted up until 1939. It happens to be the worst economic downturn for the United States and the the rest of the world. It caused companies and corporations to eventually go bankrupt as well as workers to be laid off. Another effect of The Great Depression is that factory production was reduced, and the banks started to shut down. In the lowest point of The Great Depression in 1933 nearly 15 million workers in America were unemployed and one half of the banks started shutting down.
The Great Depression affected not only the political parties, but crippled the population as a whole. Most Canadians had no money to spend or pay their bills after the Stock Market Crash and many used all their possessions as collateral, a very risky move, and lost everything. Also, the unemployment rate skyrocketed; one in every four lost their job so they couldn’t re-earn what they lost. For those who had the luck of staying employed, their pay went down exponentially; but the workers could not protest because a bad job is better than no job. Not to mention that it gave them status as a citizen. Because of unemployment, many people become hobos and transients, traveling from city to city on box cars,
Once the countries that imported Canadian goods fell into their own depression, Canada had nothing to fall back on, losing a major source of income. The staples that were depended upon were fish, wheat, minerals and pulp and paper (Causes of… (School Work Helper)). In 1929, Canada made $33 billion on exports alone, $215 million from wheat and $145 million from newspaper print (Canadian Statistics…). This fell drastically once the depression hit. In 1934, Canada only made $11 billion in exports, $132 million from wheat and $82 million from newspaper print (Canadian Statistics…). That is a 22 billion dollar drop in just five years. Canada was making 33 percent less money. Since Canadian staples were not being purchased worldwide, Canada did not need to produce a large amount of them causing the price of the individual items to drop. This brought hardship to the people who farmed those products. The people who farmed wheat were among the hardest hit. Canadian wheat fell from $1.29 a bushel in 1928 to $0.34 a bushel in 1932 (Bolotta). “It cost more to harvest (the wheat) than it would bring on market” (Bolotta). Because of this, some farmers just burnt their crops, reducing the food that could be used to help feed the rest of the
The Great Depression first started as early as 1928, but did not affect the United States until 1929. The Great Stock Market crash started the event of the Depression here in America, but was not the main cause to why it happened. During the early stages of the depression, President Hoover failed to help the economy and continued with his belief system of giving people the least help they needed, so they can earn themselves a rightful spot with pride, not with government’s help. The Great Depression was a very intense experience for us, even until today, the