Roaring 20’s Economy

Saskatchewan Wheat Board

Canada’s Growing Economy due to WWI

By Carrie Han, Karthik Pillai, Stefeni Higuchi, Sarfraz Ahmed

After World War One, Canada had gone through a great economic transformation

Canada rebuilding its economy

  • After WWI, the city slumped
  • Drought from 1919 to 1926 emptied many of the farms of southern Alberta, and the coal industry began its slow decline after 1919.
  • Canadian soldiers came home expecting to be regarded as heroes. Instead they came home to unemployment, because the munitions factories and army supply factories were shut down.
  • Canada had to adjust from war economy to a peacetime economy.
  • Unemployment was very high, and the government could not do very much because they were still recovering from the economic losses due to the war.
  • In the early 1920’s, Canadian workers began to form unions to help ensure equality and job security
  • Many strikes were staged all across the country in an effort to improve working conditions.

Roaring 20’s Economy

  • The roaring 20’s was traditionally viewed as an era of great economic prosperity driven by the introduction of a wide array of new customer goods

Canada’s Growing Economy after WWI

  • It took some time for the North American economy to convert from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy.
  • Although unemployment was high after the war ended, by 1923, Canada’s economy was once again on track and the economy bloomed
  • U.S. and Canadian economies rebounded as returning soldiers re-entered the labour force and factories were retooled to produce customer goods

War-torn Europe

  • Because of the war, Europe was still rebuilding itself
  • Canadian farmers’ economy rose because their wheat was on high demand in war torn Europe
  • The United States during this time took an increasingly isolationist stance
  • In Canada, an important economic transformation accelerated as Britain was wholly supplanted by the U.S. as Canada’s main economic partner

US trade

  • As described in “War-torn Europe” above, the U.S. became Canada’s leading economic partner
  • One of the biggest reasons for the pick up in Canada’s economy was increased trade with the U.S.
  • The US purchased most of Canada’s raw materials, and they set up branch plant in Canada to produce American products

Mass Development/Production

  • Economy boomed in the 20’s because mass development allowed for cheaper prices of technology products
  • Most of the devices had been developed before war, but had been unaffordable to the majority.
  • Automobile (e.g.—Ford Model T)
  • Movie
  • Radio
  • Chemical industries
  • Refrigerators
  • Cars
  • Before the war, cars were rare luxuries
  • By 1920, cars were much cheaper because they were produced in mass quantities.
  • Cars had wide effects on the economy and society
  • Gas stations
  • motels
  • Source industries were broadening
  • With the introduction of all these new products, unemployment dropped and people had money

Women in the Economy

  • During the war, many of the women got jobs to support the economy, and most of them retained their jobs throughout the 20’s—many of the clerical jobs went to the women
  • In Canada, one in five workers were women by the end of the decade.

Focus Question: How would the economy be different without the influence of WWI? Would it be almost the same or would the changes be drastic? How did WWI affectCanada’s economy in the aspect of Canada’s relationship with the U.S. and women in the economy?

Reasons for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool

  • The dramatic collapse in wheat prices in 1920, just as Canada returned to the private grain trade
  • Wheat prices dropped due to increased competition
  • Farmers were frustrated in their attempts to win a fair price for their wheat, so they started to look at various marketing systems between 1900 and 1920

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool

  • The farmers of Union of Canada launched the Wheat Pool in 1924
  • Helped farmers get a decent price on wheat
  • Marketed the prairie wheat crop in export markets in accordance with world price levels

Similar to the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB)

  • The Canadian Wheat Board was formally known as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
  • The CWB was a temporary measure to market the country’s entire crop
  • Help stabilize the price of wheat
  • To deal with the uncertainty of the final value of wheat sold on behalf of the producers, the CWB implemented a two-payment system: Producers were given an initial, or part, payment when they delivered their wheat to elevators, and a final payment after determining financial results of the sale of the 1919 wheat crop.

Focus Question:What do you think would have happened to Canadian farmers and the Canadian if the federal government did not establish the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool?

For further information, go to the following links!

King Wheat—Saskatchewan Grain Elevator

Canadian Wheat Board History

Answers.com—Roaring 20’s

Answers.com—Saskatchewan Wheat Pool

History in Pictures—Saskatchewan Wheat Pool