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1. Big Questions for the Great
Depression
 What was the Great Depression and what caused it?
 To what extent were the government’s responses to
the Great Depression effective?
 What was the legacy of the Great Depression?

2. Unemployment Levels
during the Depression:
1930 – 13% 1935 – 19 %
1931 – 17% 1936 – 16 %
1932 – 26% 1937 – 13%
1933 – 27% 1938 – 15 %
1934 – 21 % 1939 – 14 %

3. “Hooverville” in Seattle, Washington

4. Drought on the Prairies
Little demand for wheat, farmers struggling
already
Severe droughts (1929, 1931, 1933-
1937)Accompanied by high winds
Caused dust storms
Region nicknamed the Dust Bowl
Grasshopper invasion tooStalled trains and
cars
Wiped out what little crops were left

7.  To what extent were the government’s
responses to the Great Depression effective?

8. Government Responses to the
Great Depression
1. Increased tariffs
(protectionism) – ineffective

9. 2. Cut Government Spending so it’s in line
with government revenue – ineffective
“A nation like an individual, to
find itself must lose itself…to
those of this government, I
would not give them a five-
cent piece.” 1930

10. KING
LOST
THE
ELECTION: Bennett’s
Tories won a
MAJORITY

11. Prime Minister R. B. Bennett (1930 – 35)

12. 3. Unemployment Relief Camps – Set up in 1930 for
single unemployed men by PM R.B. Bennett. They got
20c/day and room and board.

13. Relief Road Camp 1930’s

14. 4. Relief (“Pogey”):
- Similar idea to welfare today
- Vouchers for food and other essentials
- Difficult and humiliating to get
(Long lines, publicly declare their financial
failure)
***Payments kept low to encourage people
to keep looking for work

16. The Disadvantaged
 Women:
- Some believed women who worked helped
cause the Depression
 First Nations:
- Family: $5/month
- Expected to “live off the land”
 Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities:
- Less government relief than the rest
- Chinese in Vancouver got no relief at first and
then were expected to be fed on ½ of what I
white person would get.
- 1931: no new immigrants to Canada
- By 1935 28,000 immigrants deported

17. Depression Humour…
1) Bennett barnyard
2) Bennett blanket
3) Bennett buggy
4) Bennett coffee
5) eggs Bennett
abandoned prairie farm
newspaper
engineless car
roasted wheat
broiled chestnuts

18. Bennett’s New Deal
– During the 1935 election Bennett
(conservative) promised a New Deal if
he was elected which would include:
◦ Progressive taxation (the more you make
the higher percentage of taxes you pay)
◦ Introduction of a minimum wage
◦ Unemployment insurance
◦ Health insurance
◦ Revised old age pension
◦ Regulated wheat prices

19. Riding the Rails
-“Hoboes” travelling from city to city
looking for work hopped on freight trains
= “riding the rods/rails”
-Stayed briefly in shanty towns, then
moved on
-Often had to leave families behind
How people
responded…

21. On-to-Ottawa Trek
- In 1935, unemployed relief camp
workers men from boarded trains
from Vancouver to Ottawa demanding
work with wages.
-When they reached Regina, the
police stopped them and the Regina
Riot broke out.
-1 dead cop & 120 injured

22.  What was the legacy of the Great Depression?

23. Cooperative Commonwealth
Federation (CCF)
This Socialist political party was formed in
1932 by JS Woodsworth in Saskatchewan.
It was a response to the hardships of the
Great Depression.
New Political Parties
JS Woodsworth Tommy Douglas!

24. • Governments started embracing Keynesian economics (deficit spending)
= “Bigger Government” and more government control
of the economy
•
The beginnings of the “Welfare State”
The depression made the governments realize that they had to take a more
active role in helping those in need during tough times = unemployment
insurance, welfare, sick benefits, child benefits, pensions, etc.
The Changing Role of Government