The Depression in Canada
From 1929 to 1239 Canada went through some harsh times.The crash of the stock market led Canada and the world into a decade long depression.This was the beginning of "the Dirty Thirties"
Canada's gross national income was exports, so when world trade chrashed during times of war it was greatly effected.The four western prairie provinces were almost completely dependent on the export of wheat The little money that they brought in for their wheat did not cover production costs, let alone farm taxes, depreciation and interest on the debts that farmers were building up. The net farm income fell from $417 million in 1929 to $109 million in 1933.Between 1933 and 1937 to make matters even worse, Saskatchewan suffered a drought.The money brought in for the wheat was at a record low and the provincial income dropped by 90% in two years, forcing 66% of the province into relief.Where the previous yield per acre was 27 bushels, it had dropped to as little as three in 1937.
Along with the wheat problems,jobs were also becoming scarce.For an unemployed person during the depression, there were no jobs and for those that had a job there was a high chance that it could be lost.Alot of people were dependint on government relief, charity and food handouts for daily survival.Industrys also felt this loss.The values of stocks were dropping rapidly and as the demand for goods and services, business started to go out of business.The CPR possibly the world's most reliable income earners, didn't make enough money in 1932.Relief camps were started by the conservative Bennet,Inmates called these camps "slave camps".They lived on war surplus clothing, bunked in tar-paper shacks, ate army rations and were forced to work six and a half days a week for twenty cents a day.
Politics played a great role in the depression,Richard Bennett was brought into power.Bennets first plan was to raise tarifs to protect manufacturers,this did not work.While the...