CANADA IN THE ROARING TWENTIES UNIT 3

CANADA IN THE ROARING TWENTIES UNIT 3

ECONOMY AND POLITICS o Each region of Canada had developed its own problems in post-war Canada; n Maritimes n Quebec n Prairies

ECONOMY AND POLITICS o MARITIMES n Experienced a drop in production after the war, n This drop caused a concern for a few reasons: o o High freight rates on railways; Decline in demand for fish, coal, lumber and farm goods; Stoppage of railway building through the East; High unemployment rates;

ECONOMY AND POLITICS o Maritime provinces formed the Maritime Rights Movement whose sole interest was to n Increase subsidies to the provinces; n Encourage international trade through Maritime ports; n Protect Maritime goods through high tariffs;

ECONOMY AND POLITICS o QUEBEC n Still embittered about Conscription in 1917, Quebec formed their own political party within Quebec – Action Nationale led by Abbe Groulx; n This party called for the protection of French. Canadian culture: o French ownership of large provincial corporations (hydro); o Opposed foreign investment in Quebec; o Supported traditional French rural life and values;

ECONOMY AND POLITICS o PRAIRIES n Began experiencing problems directly after the end of the war, when wheat production/demand stopped; n Creation of the National Progressive Party led by Thomas A. Crerar; o Wanted a lower cost of freight and tariffs manufactured products; o Allow voters to propose laws and be able to recall MPs who are not representing their concerns;

PROSPERITY AND CHANGE o By 1923 -24 the post-war economic slump was beginning to lift and Canadian wheat, manufactured goods and natural resources iron ore, nickel, zinc, copper were in high demand again; o Pulp and paper industry was supplying the large American market; o Automobile industry grew;

PROSPERITY AND CHANGE o Manufactured goods, labour-saving devices also grew (radios, record players, toasters, washing machines, electric irons); o Largest manufacturing area was in the Montreal – Toronto – Windsor corridor; o Toronto and Montreal were large producers before the war, but their production increased dramatically at this time;

PROSPERITY AND CHANGE o Some cities specialized in production of certain goods n Hamilton – iron and steel n Kitchener – rubber products and furniture n Windsor – cars, trucks, car parts o American car companies set up branch plants in Canada to avoid tariffs on imported carriages (up to 35% tariff on top of cost); o Cars built in Canada receive preferential tariff treatment when sent throughout the Empire;

PROSPERITY AND CHANGE o Farming communities saw uneven prosperity; o Some left their farms for work in the cities, while others went into debt to buy the latest tractors and threshers; o Wheat farmers were earning record amounts by the mid-1920 s; o Success of some wheat farmers attracted inexperienced farmers to the West – these used farming methods that rapidly exhausted the soil;

PROSPERITY AND CHANGE o The Maritime provinces experienced economic booms in some areas and bust in others; o Coal mining was dropping because of the switch to oil or electricity; o Construction and tourism industries grew; o Pulp and paper and other related industries also grew as markets opened up in Britain and the US; o Changes in railway protection rates for the Maritimes resulted in drops in coal and steel industries; (rates increased by 25%)

GOOD TIMES o Technological advances enabled rural and city dwellers to become connected and their lives made slightly easier (telephone, radio, movies, automobiles, airplanes, electrical appliances); o People who moved into the cities got jobs in the service industry (transportation, finance, public administration, hospitality); o Wages rose for most people, many could buy things on credit, disposable income grew for spending on cars, radios and sewing machines;

GOOD TIMES o Roads were being built for the growing number of cars and trucks, airmail service for the mail; o Bush pilots were flying to and mapping the North; o Stocks (portions of a company purchased by the public) were being bought as peoples’ confidence in the economy increased; o This led to a stock market boom;

LEISURE TIMES o Growth of radio broadcasts in Canada meant that in 1929 there were 297 000 radios in homes where in 1923 there were only 10 000; o First North American broadcast was from Montreal on May 20, 1920 – it was a music program; o The first radios needed headphones and controls were primitive and poor quality – they improved rapidly;

LEISURE TIMES o Ted Rogers, a Canadian electrical engineer, developed the ‘battery-less’ radio (worked through electrical current) and opened CFRB (Canadian Frequency Rogers Battery-less) from Toronto; o Most programs listened to came from the US (80% of the shows); o CBC (Canadian Broadcasting System) was created in 1936 in response to concerns that too much American content was heard on Canadian radio (Aird Report) o First Canadian program was Hockey Night in Canada with Foster Hewitt, occurring on March 22, 1923;

GROUP OF SEVEN o Canadian artists who had developed an unconventional style of painting impressions of Canadian wilderness scenes with deep colours and broad, heavy strokes; o Influenced by one another’s talents and paintings, specifically Tom Thomson (died in 1917), they formed the Group of Seven; o Members were: Lawren Harris, JEH Mac. Donald, Franklin Carmicheal, Arthur Lismer, FH Varley, AY Jackson, Frank Johnston;

MOVIES o Most popular form of entertainment; o Low cost and provided a feature presentation, a “supporting” movies and a Newsreel; o Minor boom in Canadian production in 1920 s despite Canada had been producing promotional movies since 1897; o Influex of Hollywood style movies after Famous Players purchased Canadian Allen movie theatres in 1923; o Silent films used to exaggerate actions and occasional captions; o 1927 was the first “talkie” – Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer

LITERATURE o Growth in this field for Canadian author: n n Stephen Leacock, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town; Mazo de la Roche, Jalna; Morley Callaghan, Strange Fugitive Leslie Mc. Farlane (pseudonym of Franklin W. Dixon), Hardy Boys; o These people contributed to a new style of Canadian writing and publishing, later to influence generations of authors;

SPORTS o Often referred to as “Canada’s Golden Age of Sports; ” o The International Fisherman’s Trophy in 1921 went to the Canadian Bluenose after beating an American ship; o Growth of hockey as the new national pastime, which influenced cities and towns across the nation, as well as the Americans who contributed 3 teams to the National Hockey League;

SPORTS o Howie Morenz, most popular player at the time (on the Montreal Canadiens) and won the Hart Trophy 3 times in the 1920 s; o Lionel Conacher was an all-round athelete (football, boxing, wrestling, baseball, lacrosse and hockey) n His teams won the Grey Cup in 1921 and the International League pennant in 1926 (baseball); n He won the Canadian light-weight boxing championship and the Ontario wrestling championship;

1928 OLYMPICS o Amsterdam, Holland: n Track and field took several medals in a number of events; n Fanny “Bobby” Rosenfield (Russian-born immigrants) won Gold in the 100 metre dash and Silver in the 4 x 100 relay; n Percy Williams won Gold in the 100 metre and 200 metre dash; there was also a promotional aspect to this – a chocolate bar was named after him “Our Percy”

QUALITY OF LIFE o Technological advances such as electrical appliances reduced chore times; o “Flappers” were city dweller women who were living a lifestyle most believed inappropriate for women at the time; o Clothing for women had become more equal to the men’s style with short, bobbed hair, raised skirts and more revealing clothing; o Canadian scientist Frederick Banting and his partner, Charles Best, discovered insulin, which helped control diabetes;

IMMIGRATION AND INTOLERANCE o Many British-Protestant Canadians were demonstrating their intolerance to Eastern Europeans and to visible minorities, whether Canadian-born or not; o The activities of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Canada in the 1920 s and 1930 s influenced some of the policies of the provincial governments; o Attempts made to “anglicize” many non-white members of communities through education in special schools or through missionary work;

IMMIGRATION AND INTOLERANCE o NATIVE PEOPLE n Outlawed the Potlatch and the Sun Dance; n Children were taken and placed in residential schools in order to assimilate the younger generations; n Indian Act of 1920 banned certain types of native government – ensured complete dependence on Canadian government; n Reserve Indians could not vote; n Women were excluded from selecting chiefs; n Chief Deskadeh (F. O. Loft) went to the British government and League of Nations to gain independence, but it was not granted;

PROHIBITION o Many women who had recently received the vote lobbied for prohibition (ban on the production and sale of alcohol); o It was believed by the temperance movements that alcohol was the center of society’s ills: domestic violence, crime rates; o Felt it was immoral to drink alcohol when the grain could be used for food products;

PROHIBITION o Federal government controls importing, manufacture and export of alcohol; provinces control licensing, sale and consumption; o Federal government legislated in 1918 -1919 that alcohol production stop; o By 1917, all provinces except Quebec were under prohibition;

PROHIBITION o Laws were ignored by a large portion of Canadians; o Bootleggers (people who made and sold alcohol illegally) made millions of dollars, provinces lost tax dollars, so it was slowly repealed;

PROHIBITION o Benefits of prohibition: n n n n Crime rate dropped Arrest and drunkenness down 93% Expensive from bootleggers Fewer police needed Some jails closed More money went home to families Domestic violence down More productivity at work