Week 9: Great Depression and Dust Bowl

Question 1

What 3 things did municipal governments promise in their “Municipal Assistance” program?

Answer 1

• Food vouchers for the people
• The municipal government would pay back the grocery stores after
• Train tickets are given to businessmen

Question 2

In what years was the Communist Party of Canada banned?

Answer 2

1931-1936

Question 3

Which Prime Minister established the Relief Camp system?

Answer 3

R. B. Bennet

Question 4

Who was sent to the relief camps?

Answer 4

Single unemployed men (aka the Army of the Unemployed)

Question 5

What are the 5 causes for the Canadian recession?

Answer 5

• Commodity prices drop
• Demand drops
• Global trade drops
• Credit is evaporating
• Unemployment rises

Question 6

The GPD fell ___% from 1929-1932.

Answer 6

15%

Question 7

Which 4 provinces go officially bankrupt?

Answer 7

• B.C
• Alberta
• Saskatchewan
• Manitoba

Question 8

Why do the western provinces suffer the most?

Answer 8

Because the western economy depended on exports and global trade, both of which collapsed.

Question 9

Why did the economies of Ontario and Québec survive better?

Answer 9

Because Ontario and Quebec had more diversified economies.

Question 10

In what year do the Relief Camp strikes begin?

Answer 10

1934

Question 11

What were the Relief Camp Striker’s 5 demands?

Answer 11

• Pay increase to 50c/hour
• 20 hours of work per month minimum
• First aid in camps
• No Military control of camps
• Recognition of democratically elected workers assemblies at each camp

Question 12

What were the 4 interconnected aspects of the Great Depression?

Answer 12

• Stock market peaked
• People bought stocks on margin
• Overproduction of goods
• People rushed the banks

Question 13

Who planned a revolution in 1934?

Answer 13

The Army of the Unemployed

Question 14

Who started the On-To Ottawa Trek?

Answer 14

Workers in Vancouver

Question 15

How many men initially participated in the On to Ottawa Trek?

Answer 15

1500

Question 16

How do the trekkers get to Ottawa?

Answer 16

By hopping on trains

Question 17

True or False:

The Trekkers never made it to Ottawa.

Answer 17

TRUE

They made it as far as Regina

Question 18

How many representatives are the trekkers permitted to send to Ottawa?

Answer 18

8

Question 19

What happened in the Regina Riot?

Answer 19

• The RCMP beat protesting crowds with batons
• Then, RCMP uses tear gas
• In a final panic, RCMP fired into the crowd, killing 1

Question 20

What was the result of the negotiations with the trekkers representatives in Ottawa?

Answer 20

Horrible.
- The 8 representatives are escorted out

• The RCMP were now tasked with stopping the trekkers from getting on trains

Question 21

What was the impact of the Regina Riot in Parliament?

Answer 21

Bennet’s Conservatives will lose horribly to William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Liberals in the next federal election.

Question 22

Before European contact, how many bison were there in the Prairies?

Answer 22

60 million

Question 23

In 1900, how many bison were there in the Prairies?

Answer 23

2000 (almost all in the U.S.)

Question 24

True or False:

The Bison were essentially extinct in Canada by 1890.

Answer 24

TRUE

Question 25

Which farming method eventually caused drought in the prairies?

Answer 25

Deep Plowing

(It took all the natural grass and moisture from the soil, which usually anchored the dirt during the extreme wind seasons)

Question 26

What 2 things worsened the drought during the dust bowl?

Answer 26

1. Dust storms
2. Grasshopper infestations in the fields

Question 27

What were the 2 worst years for the Dust-Bowl?

Answer 27

1934 & 1936

Question 28

What solution did many families come to in order to stop dust from bursting inside the house?

Answer 28

They hung wet blankets and sheets over their windows.

Question 29

How were the dust-storms dangerous to children?

Answer 29

• The dust would cut the inside of children’s lungs and often causing fatal pneumonia
• Also, many children got lost in the storms

Question 30

On what railway did the On-To Ottawa Trekkers hop in their attempt to make it to Ottawa?

Answer 30

Canadian Pacific
(freight lines)