The Great Depression in Canada

The great depression in Canada was caused by a few different aspects but most notable because of a deep dependency on exporting wheat to foreign countries.

In the 1920’s Canada had the fastest growing economy with a very small unemployment rate. This growth was mainly dependent upon the exportation of wheat. When the 1928 crop crash occurred the Canadian economy was struck pretty hard.

Before it was able to recover, the stock market crashed in 1929 destroyed the economy of Canada’s biggest trading partner, the United States. Prior to the crash the U.S. received between 35-45% of Canada’s exports. When it slowed down and was later followed by a slowdown in other countries the Canadian economy simply collapsed.

To make matters worse severe droughts and poor soil conservation techniques greatly affected Canada’s ability to produce wheat. The yield per acre of land dropped from 27 to just 3 (an 89% drop) during the height of the depression.

In 1929 income from wheat was $417 million dollars, that same number dropped to $109 million in 1933. Corporate profits in general decreased from a profit of $396 million in 1929 to a loss of $98 million in 1933. GNP dropped from $6.1 billion to $3.5 billion a loss of 42%.

The Great Depression in Canada; Unemployment

Unemployment rose as high as 27% and while there were programs around to help the unemployed they were designed for families only. A family was also only considered a family if they had a child under the age of 16. Because of this once 16, most young men left their homes and went to “work camps” in order to relief the some of the burden off of their parents.

Single men were unable to receive any benefits from the government.

To compromise the government set up work camps in which young men would work 6 ½ days a week for $.20 a day, eat military rations, and get room and board. The conditions were so bad on these work camps that they were nicknamed “slave camps”.

These terrible conditions would lead to the Regina riot killing one police officer and injuring over 100 men.

How Did Canada Deal With The Great Depression of the 1930’s?

The Canadian sought to help the economy by offering unemployment, by setting up work camps programs, and by working to create new jobs. They also made the mistake of adding a Tariff on foreign goods thinking it would help boost the economy but actually ended up hurting Canada’s trading relationships with other countries and therefore Canada’s economy was affected in a negative way.

The worst was over by late 1933, and the country saw a slow but steady growth until they fully recovered sometime around 1939.

The war in Europe created a much higher demand for materials and helped the nation finally recover from its slump for good.

The Great Depression in Canada and Lessons Learned

The biggest lesson that the Canadian government and governments around the world learned was of the importance of government interference. Prior to the 1930’s the Canadian government’s policy was to let the community take care of itself.

After the crash however they started to play a much more active role in their economy setting up programs such as unemployment and Medicare as well as creating a minimum wage.

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