Great depression essay

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On Tuesday October 29th 1929 the stock market crashed 15% to trigger to what we now know as the great depression. The depression hit canada hard, no one buying raw materials and all american factories located in Canada were shut down leaving the people of Canada unemployed, poor and hungry. The depression had forced people out of homes and into unemployment camps. Why did things come to this ? Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King Believed unemployment is seasonal and refused to help while so many struggled. Then elected was Bennett a rich Lawyer who knew nothing about running a country resulting in many failed plans. To end all of Canada’s responses the government raised tariffs cutting us off from the world. Though the Canadian government may have tried their responses to the great depression were inadequate and failed to bring the canadian economy back. Image not knowing when your next meal could be if there even was one coming. This is how your average Canadian felt during the great depression. Chewing gum turned into alpha alpha, meat pies turned into gopher pies the whole standard of life was lowered during the depression. If you were an unemployed male you were not wanted anywhere and at the same time companies were laying off workers more often than they would pay their workers that is underpaying their workers. What was the government doing while all these people struggled you might ask ? It seemed like the government was doing nothing . Which is exactly what Prime minister King was doing , nothing. Lyon Mackenzie King Canada’s longest serving prime minister to this day, the man who help canada finish the war strong but decided to abide peoples need for help in the depression. King believed it was se... ... middle of paper ... ...als in a depression. Not to mention the tariffs cut us off from countries like England and USA who could of helped us recover quicker by making trades and building up each others economy. Raised Tariffs in the depression Like many ideas they look really good until they were put into play especially when nothing else is working. The tariffs put a stop to world trading to help support local but locals couldn't afford the products or just do not need the products therefore shutting down large parts of the canadian workforce leaving so many unemployed. In conclusion the evidence shows that the canadian government did an inadequate job of responding to the canadian citizens troubles during the great depression. Due to lack of effort and knowledge as well as shutting out international markets the canadian economy did nothing but suffer until the second world war.

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