• Richard Bedford (R.B.) Bennett replaces King as P.M. in 1930
  • Bennet promises work for all, $20 million for emergency funds and to deal with foreign trade policies
  • His policies did little to help the economic conditions in Canada
  • Bennett set up relief camps for single unemployed men
  • Men worked cutting brush and building roads for $0.20 a day
  • Dissatisfaction with Relief camp life lead to the ON-TO-OTTAWA TREK

On-To-Ottawa Trek

  • In 1935 thousands of men fed up with B.C. Relief camps board trains bound for Ottawa to protest to the government
  • As the men moved east, they were joined by new men
  • They wanted economic reforms (minimum wage, unemployment insurance)
  • They were stopped in Regina by the RCMP (a riot broke out where many were injured and one police officer lost his life)

Regional Effects

The West

  • Economy was dependant on wheat; unfortunately drought and grasshoppers destroyed crops in the 1930’s
  • $1.60 a bushel in 1929 for wheat to $0.38 in 1932

Central Canada

  • Cut back production in factories that produced farm machinery
  • Small businesses were hit really hard—many bankruptcies
  • Large corporations still managed to record profits in all but one year during the depression

Maritimes

  • Did not benefit from boom in the 1920’s therefore economic decline did not seem so severe
  • Depended on exports of fish, timber and coal
  • These markets declined therefore there were layoffs and reduces work hours

Newfoundland

  • Desperate conditions
  • Not yet part of Canada—no government relief from Canada
  • Nfld.  Government went into debt
  • British commissions took over the government

Canadian Culture in the 1930’s

Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) 1933

  • Created to counteract American domination of the airwaves
  • Encouraged development of Canadian programs
  • Became the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1939

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