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THE GREAT
DEPRESSION The Dirty
Thirties.
| Few
countries were affected as severely as Canada during the
Great Depression of the 1930s. One in five Canadian's |
 |
| became dependent on the government for relief.
Unemployment never declined below 12% and the
Depression’s severity was due to a poor welfare
structure and misguided government policy. Saskatchewan
was plagued by crop failures and the lowest price for
wheat in recorded history, farmers, young people, small
businessmen and the unemployed bore the burden of
economic hardship. Conservative R.B.
Bennett and W.L. Mackenzie King refused to provide
work for the jobless insisting that care should come
provincially. The depression spawned political reform
movements such as the democratic socialism of J.S.
Woodsworth and T.C.
Douglas.
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R.B.
Bennett’s New
Deal In the mid-1930s, at the height of the GREAT
DEPRESSION, Prime Minister R.B. BENNETT’S political demise
seemed inevitable. Seeking to reverse the tide running
against his Conservative Party, on 2 Jan 1935 he began a
series of live radio speeches outlining a “New Deal” for
Canada. It promised a more progressive taxation system, a
maximum work week, a minimum wage, closer regulation of
working conditions, unemployment insurance, health and
accident insurance, a revised old-age pension and
agricultural support programs. Nevertheless, Bennett lost
the Oct 1935 general election, and in Jan 1937 the JUDICAL
COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL declared most of the “New
Deal” ULTRA VIVRES.
John English, The Canadian Encyclopedia,
p.204.
Woodsworth,
James Shaver,
Methodist minister, social worker, politician (b at
Etobicoke, Ont 29 July 1874; d at Vancouver 21 Mar 1942).
First leader of the CO-OPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH FEDERATION (CCF),
he was the best known of the reformed-minded SOCIAL GOSPEL
ministers and led many of them into the politics of
democratic socialism.
Kenneth McNaught, The Canadian
Encyclopedia, p. 2333.
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The Lyrics
The
dirty 30’ were the great depression years
We road the rails in search of work
Our destinies unclear
Arrested for vagrancy with no clemency
CHORUS
Union folk come along
And sing those union songs
Unions be strong
Our time is not long
Dust and debt destroy our prairie long
And do nothing politicians carry on
While we can’t make our loans
And the banks foreclose
CHORUS
R.B. Bennet is afraid of Western Socialists
Woodsworth and Douglas are no communists
Communist, Socialist who cares
All we want are jobs and health care
CHORUS |
Douglas, Thomas
Clement,
Tommy, baptist minister, politician, premier of Saskatchewan
(b at Falkirk, Scot 20 Oct 1904; d Ottawa 24 Feb 1986).
Douglas led the first socialist government elected in Canada
and is recognized as the father of socialized medicine. He
also helped establish democratic socialism in the mainstream
of Canadian politics. His proudly working-class and religious
family provided a strong background for both his politics and
his faith.
L.D. Lovick, The Canadian Encyclopedia,
pp. 615-616.
Books:
Douglas, T.C. Making of a Socialist.
MacInnis,
G. J.S. Woodsworth, A Man to Remember.
Horn M. ed, The
Dirty Thirties: Canadians in the Great Depression. |
