Canada After WWI

The Economic Roller Coaster

• During the war, there were 300,000 employed in munitions factories, and more employed in creating other war products. There were labour shortages, and this increased the bargaining power of the workers

• Wages were high, but so was the cost of living (it doubled between 1914 and 1919)

• 500,000 soldiers then came back after the war, looking for jobs. Women, who took many jobs when the men went to war, were expected to give them back.

• Now there was a labour surplus, and war industries were shutting down. Wages dropped, and inflation of prices occurred.

• Canada was in an economic recession

Inflation

• Inflation is a rise in prices accompanied by a drop in the buying power of money

• Food and fuel were in short supply and became more expensive.

• Price of beef in 1914: 10 cents/pound• Price of beef in 1918: 39 cents/pound • 300% increase!

• As a result, many struggled to maintain a basic standard of living

Labour Movement

Workers are mad!

• Before 1917, workers could threaten to strike if not paid fair wages or given decent working conditions

• In 1917, PM Robert Borden made it illegal for workers to strike• He lightly prodded employers to pay fair wages and negotiate

with their employees, but he was largely ignored

• Workers were angry with both government and business

The servicemen are mad, too!

• Also in 1917, Borden promised soldiers “full re-establishment”• Gave disabled vets and dependents of

the war dead a small gov’t pension• A few veteran hospitals were built• Some home homesteads were offered

to vets

• Soldiers wanted a $2000 bonus for war service because their military pay was so low. • They were rejected and became

hungry and desperate

The Rise of Unions

• Many individual workers, and groups such as police, municipal employees, meat-packers, garment manufacturers, joined unions to bargain for better pay

• Most factory owners and city councils hadn’t faced unions before and were strongly against them

• 420 strikes would happen by 1919, and many non-union workers marched in support of worker demands

Mackenzie King

• Wilfrid Laurier died soon after WWI and Mackenzie King took control of the Liberal Party

• King put Canadian unity ahead of every other political goal

• Used compromise to hold the nation together

• Elected as PM in 1921 and would become Canada’s longest serving PM