2. +
Five Cent Piece
King said that he wouldn’t give a “five-cent piece” to help
any Conservative provincial government fight
unemployment.
As a response, unemployed workers threw wooden nickels at
King on the campaign trail, they were outraged
In the election of 1930: Bennett beat King with a majority
3. +
Seeking Relief
Needed to find ways to support themselves
Door-to-door salespeople
Work for food
Impossible to meet their daily needs
1933: 1.4 million Canadians relied on relief
Relief: Financial assistance from the government to help support
unemployed citizens, today it is called welfare
Suffered: Young people, unskilled workers, small business owners,
farmers, and working women
4. +
Women’s Rights
1930s: Unacceptable for woman to take jobs away from men
Result: men got jobs in female occupations such as teaching
and secretarial work
5. +
To be Eligible to Obtain Relief
Payments:
1. Prove that you are not able to support yourself and that no relative can help
2. Be a man supporting a family.
3. Have been a resident of the municipality for at least one year before applying
4. Turn in your liquor permit
5. Turn in your automobile license plates and driver’s license
6. Remove telephone from your house
7. Register at the unemployment office (to show your willingness to work)
8. Work on municipal projects from time to time
9. Allow relief office investigators to come to your home to check on these rules
6. +
Bennett Buggies and Bennett Burghs
Buggies: Take the engines out of their cars and horses
would pull them, no gas and cheaper
Burghs: rundown shacks of unemployed people
7. +
Meanwhile… in the USA
President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal
Series of radical and social reforms aimed at providing relief
and economic recovery
1935: Bennett announced his “New Deal”
Supported unregulated capitalism now needed economic
overhaul
New social programs, unemployment insurance and minimum
wage
8. +
Bennett’s Response
Ending the Depression: “New Deal”
Set aside millions of dollars for emergency relief and
increased tariffs on imported goods
Did little to reverse the country’s economy
Blamed for indecisive and ineffective
9. +
Responding to the “New Deal”
It was too late for Bennett
Liberal campaign slogan: “King or Chaos!”
Voters chose King in a majority, 173 Liberal seats to 40
Conservative seats
