Transcript File
Canada Between
The Wars
1919-1939
The Economy
Post War Economic
Problems
OBU
MANY
SMALL
UNIONS
Wartime manufacturing ended
and factories retooled for peace
time, and downsized.
350,000 veterans returned to the
workforce.
Unions attempted to consolidate
strength gained during the war.
Labour demands for “One Big
Union” frightened government
and business.
Post War Economic
Problems II
The government
refused a veteran
demand for a $2000
bonus.
Farmers were upset
by government prices
for wheat.
Inflation, after 1917,
resulted in rising
interest rates.
Winnipeg General Strike
Workers demanded the
right to bargain with
employers.
30,000 workers set up
picket lines on May 15,
1919.
The strike showed signs
of spreading beyond
Winnipeg.
A frightened government
brought a violent end to
the strike.
Winnipeg General Strike
Railways
Bankrupt railway lines established
during the Laurier era were
consolidated by the government as
the Canadian National Railway
system.
To meet costs the CNR raised freight
rates on the Maritime section of the
line imposing severe hardship on
industry in this region.
The Election of 1921
The Election of 1921
The new Conservative
leader after 1920 was
Arthur Meighen.
The Liberals elected
William Lyon Mackenzie
King to lead their party.
Discontent among
farmers resulted in a new
federal political party The Progressives.
Arthur Meighen
The Election of 1921 II
The Progressives supported
free trade, lower taxes and
cheap freight rates.
The Liberals also supported
free trade.
The Conservatives continued
to support high tariffs and
this cost them the election.
Mackenzie King formed
government in 1921.
Mackenzie King
The Election of 1921 III
Liberal seats
Progressive seats
Conservative seats
Progressive strength in the West combined with
Liberal support in Quebec and the Maritimes
swept the Conservatives from power.
Canadian Autonomy
The Growth of Canadian
Autonomy 1914 -1919
Decision making for much of World War I was
entirely British.
In 1917 the British War Cabinet was expanded
to become the Imperial War Cabinet which
included all of the Dominion prime ministers.
In 1919 Canada placed her own signature on
the Treaty of Versailles and took a separate seat
on the League of Nations.
Mackenzie King and The
Empire
Mackenzie King did not support military
expansion and wished to distance himself
from the Empire.
He cut the defence budget and appointed
O.D. Skeleton to direct Canada’s foreign
policy.
King’s policies were popular in the West
and in Quebec.
King and Canadian Autonomy
Liberal nationalism was demonstrated by
The Chanak Crisis of 1922
King refused to support Britain’s
request for troops in case of a war
with Turkey.
The Halibut Treaty of 1923
For the first time Canada signed an
international treaty without British
support.
The Statute of Westminster 1931
In 1923 at the Imperial
Conference Mackenzie King
and J.B.M. Herzog of South
Africa proposed that the
foreign policy of each
dominion should be completely
independent of British control.
The King-Herzog Principle led
to the Statute of Westminster
of 1931 which established
Canada as an “autonomous
community within the British
Empire.”
The King-Byng Affair
The Election of 1925
Between 1921 and 1925
economic conditions in most of
Canada improved
but
The Progressive party was weakened
by internal disagreement
and
The Liberals had failed to keep all the
promises of 1921. They were now
vulnerable in the Maritimes because
of
Freight Rates
and Tariffs.
The Election of 1925 II
Conservative seats
Liberal seats
Progressive seats
Mackenzie King lost the election but
called on the support of the
Progressive Party and refused to resign.
The King-Byng Wing-Ding 1926
A scandal in the Liberal
government forced
Mackenzie King to ask
Lord Byng, the GovernorGeneral, for dissolution.
Lord Byng would not
grant this request
because
Meighen led the
largest party.
An election had just
taken place in 1925.
Lord Byng
The King-Byng Wing-Ding
A reluctant Arthur Meighen now formed
government.
King accused Lord Byng and the Conservatives
of “twisting the Constitution.”
The Progressives continued to support the
Liberals and Meighen was quickly defeated.
An election called for September 14, 1926
returned King and the Liberals to power.