Canadian History: Canada And The Twenties

Canada and the Twenties CP HW p.48-73
1) The tensions that underlined the Winnipeg General Strike began when all the soldiers came home from Europe and didn’t have a job anymore; this put a lot of women out of their jobs. The pay had also been reduced during the war, which made workers demand for a higher wage from their employer. On top of this many if not all of the war material factories were going out of business. Economic hardship and unfairness erupted into a strike that made Canadian history.
3) Regionalism is the concern of the many regions of the country with their own local problems. An example of this in Canada during the 1920 are when the maritime provinces wanted the Maritime Rights Movement because they found that their influence
in national politics was decreasing and that they couldn’t sell their coal (this act only lasted a short time). Another example is when the farmers from the Praises and Ontario were frustrated with the Tariffs that were protecting Canadian Industries by making all foreign goods expensive, but had all there agricultural products sold on the open world market (the farmers wanted free-trade).
4) In 1926 the Progressives asked Mackenzie King to try and set up an old age pension.
In 1927 The Old Age Pension Act was passes, this gave $240.00 per year to a person it was not a lot but it was still something and showed that the government was taking part in providing a network of social service for its citizens.
5) The King-Byng Crisis is when Prime Minister King asked Governor General Viscount Byng to call an election but Byng refused to do so because the vote of censure had to be completed first, this infuriated King. Byng eventually had to call an election and King said it to be undemocratic for an official of Britain to refuse to listen to the advice given by a Prime Minister who was elected by Canadian citizens. King ended up winning the election and no other Governor General has ever again not done what the Prime Minister would like.
6) The U.S invested in Canada’s economy by investing in Canadian pulp and paper, mills, and in mines. Most of our resources (which were originally exported to Britain) were exported to the U.S; the U.S investors would set up branch plants instead of just leading us the money like Britain used to. The United States put big companies into Canada also like General Motors or
Ford.
9) The Persons Case brought forward the issues of female political participation (women’s right to vote and run for office). Emily Murphy and four other women fought to get the right to have women be able to be a part of the government and to be seen as persons under the law. In 1928 the Supreme Court of Canada decided that women were not persons under legislation but were then over ruled by the Privy Council in Britain in 1929.
11) An issue facing Aboriginal Nations during the Twenties was that even thought they went to war and fought for Canada they were still not seen as persons under legislation, they were not allowed to vote in provincial or federal elections. Discrimination was another challenging obstacle that many aboriginal people had to deal with when trying to get a job or at school.
12) The Canadian immigration policy was restricting during the 1920`s because the paranoia was amplified by the war and the government wanted immigrants to be deported. Restrictions were made on immigration an example of this is when the government passed a law that made it so that Chinese immigrants were not allowed in Canada until 1947.
Canada and the Thirties CP HW p.74-99
1) The depression was so severe in Canada because not only did the stocks crash there was a drought in the prairies which left families with no homes because their crops couldn’t grow and an top of that the constant dust storms made life miserable and took away all the fertile top soil. If that wasn’t enough thousands of grass hoppers came to the prairies and ate what could be grown.
3) “Pogey” was a government relief payment that was given to those who had no other income.
Getting “pogey” was not easy for people they had to wait in a line up for many hours and then when it was finally their turn they would have to publicly declared their financial difficultly, then would have to swear that they didn’t own anything of value, and that they had been evicted from their house. They would get vouchers if they fulfilled the requirements; vouchers so that they wouldn’t go and buy something that you do not need to survive like alcohol and so the government can control what you are allowed to get.
5) After World War I many Canadians were unemployed and had very little food. Thievery became more and more common (they would steal bread or money) and people couldn’t agree on how to solve the problem. Some thought a strong military was needed others thought communism was needed.
6) Canadians were more concerned with the affairs going on at their boarder than with what was going on in Germany. Finally in 1937 King went to Germany to visit Hitler and see for himself what his intentions were; King thought Hitler had no war like intentions and saw no reason that Canada needed to be involved. Canada’s Pierre Rinfret (Secretary of State) also didn’t want any refugees because of the unemployment problem but Thomas Crerar (Liberal cabinet member) thought 10 000 Jewish refugees should be allowed into Canada. Still in 1939 the St. Louis was refused permission to dock with over
900 Jewish people on board just off the east coast of Canada.