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The Great Depression in Canada Essay

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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 …show more content…

The conservatives introduced the unemployment relief act, giving the provinces $20 million for work-creation programs. This, however, did not aid economy much. Also, Bennett tried to raise tariffs in order to protect Canadian industries and get into the world market. He raised the tariffs by an average of more than 50 percent, which did protect some businesses, but it actually caused more harm than good. These tariffs made other nations set up trade barriers against Canada. He introduced the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act in 1935, which helped farmers build irrigation systems and reservoirs, but by this time, because of drought, poverty, and locusts, most families had already left their farms to go to other places. Finally, he created a national network of work camps for unemployed single men who needed work and shelter. These work camps allowed men to work for them (roads, clearing land, digging ditches, etc) for a pay of 20 cents a day. They were also given a place to stay and food to eat, but the food was terrible and the bunks were often bug infested. In spite of these conditions, 170 000 men spent time in these camps, which reflects the desperation that some of these people had.i With such poor conditions, there was really no doubt that people would begin to

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