Canada in the Interwar Years

Search for Security

• The League of Nations was the first international organization that aimed to maintain world peace.
• International Cooperation promoted collaboration through an internal association.
• Arbitration involves a third party (the arbitrator) who listens to both sides and makes a binding decision.
• Collective Security meant members aided any member who was a victim of aggression.

Canada in the Interwar Years

Aftermath of the War

• There was growing discontent among soldiers in Europe as they were unable to return home.
• Soldiers demanded money and compensation for their suffering during the war.
• Returning soldiers found it difficult to adjust to "a normal life”.
• There was growing resentment between French-Canadian relationships, influenced by PM Wilfred Laurier.

Social Changes

• Popular activities included picnics, corn roasts, clam bakes, riding the rapids, horse races, going to the movie palace, skating, and skiing.

Art

• The Group of Seven was the most famous group of artists from twentieth-century Canada.
• Emily Carr is recognized as one of Canada's greatest artists from the 1920s/30s.

Inventions

• The radio, the airplane, and the car were invented (20s).

Immigration

• Immigration was very popular after the First World War, but Canada banned enemy immigrants.
• More Canadians left the country than immigrants entered.
• Canada lowered barriers, and the Canadian Pacific Railway tried to attract immigrants.
• Pier 21 in Halifax was the port where most European immigrants entered from.

Canada's Independence

• Canada had its own seat in the League of Nations.
• Canada signed the Treaty of Versailles (1919 )independently.
• The Chanak Crisis (1922) involved a disruption between Turkey and Britain.
• Canada historically refused automatic support to the British for the first time.
• The Halibut Treaty (1923) was collaborated on between the US and Canada, another step toward Canadian autonomy in foreign affairs.
• The Imperial Conference (1926) produced the Balfour Report, making known that Canada was in no way subordinate to Great Britain.
• The Statute of Westminster (1931) legally recognized Canada's autonomy from Great Britain in 1926.
• The British Commonwealth of Nations consisted of free/equal states with a common allegiance to the British Crown.
• It included Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa,.

The Great Depression

• The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939, with high rates of unemployment and poverty.
• Laissez faire describes governments and the economy as "Let it be"/"Don't get too involved."

Economic Vocabulary

• Revenue: Money taken in by the government (taxes + customs duties).
• Expenditures: Money spent by the government.
• Budget: The spending plan developed by the government; revenues are totalled, and all expenditures for the coming year are announced.
• Balanced Budget: Expenditures = Revenues.
• Deficit: The government's budget shows expenditures that are larger than its revenues.
• Currency: Actual money used in a particular country.
• Capitalism: An economic system where the country's trade and industry are controlled privately.
• Market Economy: Individual producers and consumers determine the kinds of goods/prices.
• Supply = Availability of a particular product/commodity.
• Demand = How badly people want the product.
• Business Cycle: Cycles of prosperity and recession every five or six years or so.
• Recession: Economic activity is in decline.
• Boom: Extreme prosperity.
• Bust: Serious downturn following a boom.

Causes of the Great Depression

• Overproduction: caused factory owners to panic, leading to them firing workers, resulting in less money to buy goods and a slowdown in sales.
• Reliance on Exports: Canada depended heavily on exports of staples (crops, minerals).
• Reliance on US: 40% of exports were sold to the United States.
• Stock Market Crash: Black Tuesday was on October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed.
• Buying on margin: Companies sold stocks (shares) to get the money they needed to expand.
• Investors bought stocks on borrowed money in exchange for shares of their profit.
• Speculation: The process after buying on margin; sell, repay the loan, and harvest a large profit.
• Economic Protectionism + Tariffs: Tariffs are duties (money) collected on goods coming into a country.
• Protectionist: The Government protected home industries from the competition of foreign goods through tariffs.
• International Debt: Many people owed the US and depended on selling their products to repay this; when the US became a protectionist, they couldn't repay.

Responses to the Depression

• The US - President Hoover "toughed it out" and did not introduce any relief measures.
• New Deal - Franklin Roosevelt was elected and promised to implement relief programs in 100 days of action to put Americans back to work.
• Keynesian Economics - John Maynard Keynes proposed the government spend its way out of the Depression using Deficit Financing.
• Deficit Financing - Government borrows money -> repaid in the future when the economy recovers ->spend on huge employment projects.
• Canada - Canadian citizens and the government addressed the problem in different ways.
• Riding the Rails: Riding on top of trains in search of employment.
• Pogey: Vouchers (food/essential items) for qualified people -> Lower than the lowest paying jobs to discourage people wanting it -> Insufficient: Left many people starving + suffering from disease.
• Unemployment: In exchange for labour on public works projects, men got $0.20 per day plus room and board to start them off economically.
• Bennett's New Deal: Progressive taxation (the more you make, the more you pay).
• Maximum number of hours in a work week.
• Minimum wage.
• Stronger regulation of working conditions.
• Unemployment insurance.
• Health and accident insurance.
• Revised old age pension plan.
• Agricultural support.

Consequences of the Great Depression

• On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot: Relief camp workers were frustrated and boarded trains in Vancouver, bound for Ottawa to protest.
• They wanted “work with wages" or "real jobs".
• Unemployment: 25% unemployment rate in industrialized countries.
• Employment Insurance: Government support to help fired workers meet their basic needs while they looked for jobs -> Nonexistent during the Great Depression.
• Banking Failures: People saved money in banks, but the banks spent all the money.
• Political Consequences: Americans doubted the validity of the American Dream; Canada formed new parties (Ex. NDP).
• Government: Began to "tighten their belts" and cut back on government spending; leaders realized they needed to be more actively involved in the economy.
• Marketing Board to regulate wheat prices