The Canadian Depression

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”Families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out. Car-loads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless — restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do — to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut — anything, any burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for food, and most of all for land. “

John Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath, 1939

Between 1900 and 1929, Canada had the world’s fastest growing economy with only a sharp but brief recession during world war one. The 1920’s had been a successful period of growth. The living standards were improving remarkably. Before the First World War, the American stock market was small and a relatively unimportant part of Canada’s economy. This suddenly changed bringing the onset of the great depression in the late 1920’s when the economy took a severe and devastating turn; affecting the lives of Canadians for nearly a decade.

Many Canadians thought the depression was brought about by the wheat crop crash and not the stock market crash because many Canadians and farmers were dependent on the growth of wheat because it made up a majority of their exports, but seeing as the wheat provinces were hit with a severe drought the wheat crops crashed leaving many farmers out of jobs and money, causing a great affect on Canada. The causes of the great depression were due to over-production and over-expansion because Canadian companies expanded their industries of goods so that they could generate more profits. Yet economic activity shrank in the late 20’s and companies were left with a heavier debt and lack of...

... middle of paper ...

...hich involved spending large amounts of money in which to produce ships, aircrafts, weapons, and other essential war materials. This brought on industrial growth and unemployment then began to decrease rapidly as new jobs surfaced.

Works Cited

http://newdeal.feri.org/eleanor/er2a.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/canadianhistory/depression/depression.html

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=a1ARTA0003425

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/91513/Canada/43009/The-Great-Depression

http://www.42explore2.com/depresn.htm

http://www.ascension.k12.nf.ca/curriculum/social/canhistory_1201/new_page_8.htm http://edss.wrdsb.on.ca/courses/chc2di/THE%20GREAT%20DEPRESSION.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_Canada

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1583.html

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