Attempts to End the Depression

Read about the following political parties that were around during the Depression. Record which ideas in their platform do you think are good ideas and which ideas in their platform do you think are bad ones. Finally, rank the parties from your first choice to last choice if you were voting during the Depression (1= 1st choice, 5 = last choice).

Political Party /

What do you like about this party? Which ideas are good?

/ What don’t you like about this party? Which ideas are bad?

The Social Credit Party

-Wanted to give people money for free in the form of prosperity certificates
-People would spend the money allowing businesses to start opening and hiring again
-Policy was declared illegal as only the federal government could issue legal currency- if anyone could print money it might create bigger economic problems.
-Party was elected in Alberta as provincial government /

The Communist Party of Canada

-Wanted the type of government that existed in the Soviet Union or USSR (Russia)
-Believed that the wealthy had too much; money had to be distributed more equally in order to eliminate poverty and make things more fair (limit how much $ one could have)
-In order to do this, the government would have to eliminate freedoms and maintain strict control over the country /
The Conservative Party
-Party in power from 1930 to 1935- some felt they had tried and failed to solve Depression
-Tried many things - introduced relief payments, relief camps, taxes on imports (tariffs)- had little success
-In 1935, tried to bring in a plan called ‘Bennett’s New Deal’- government would spend billions on social programs (i.e. unemployment), and paying people to do work for the government (building roads, bridges etc.) /
The Liberal Party
-Party in power during the good economic times during the 1920s but lost the 1930 election after the Stock Market Crash
-Argued that the Conservatives had failed to help end the Depression in their 5 years in power and had to be replaced
-Argued that the Social Credit Party and CCF’s ideas were to radical, and would not work
-Proposed that a commission should be set up to study the problem before the government acted. /
Political Party /

What do you like about this party? Which ideas are good?

/ What don’t you like about this party? Which ideas are bad?
The C.C.F. (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation)
- Believed in socialism (government control of the economy)
- Wanted to introduce new things like a guaranteed minimum wage, unemployment insurance, free healthcare, pensions for the elderly
-People questioned where they would get the money for these things during the Depression
/

Who Won the 1935 Election?

Political Party / Seats Won

Liberal Party

/ 173
Conservative Party / 39
Social Credit / 17
C.C.F. / 7
Communist Party / (Declared illegal)

1. Who won the 1935 election (party and leader)?

2. Did the winning party or Prime Minister do anything that helped end the Depression?

3. What ultimately led to the end of the Depression?