HIS263Y1 Lecture : feb 15
Document Summary
Canadian stock market crashed on black tuesday: october 29th 1929. This crash echoed and paralleled the more famous crash on wall street. Wall street crash was more a symbolic bookend for the great depression than the. Bookend at the end is the start of wwii. Overextended credit / overproduction of key commodities. Economy dependant on exports: wheat, pulp and paper etc. Decline in world trade canadian exports decline a quarter by 1932. These international problems intersect with local conditions (perfect economic storm) Wheat glut: too much on the world market price goes down. Result is the total collapse of the wheat economy. William lyon mackenzie king is in power at the time. Government response is not innovative or dramatic. King"s first response was to minimize the crisis. He passes the unemployment relief act which gives 20 million dollars of federal money to provinces for relief of the unemployed. Public works spending / infrastructure programs was the target of aid.
