THE AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

ATTITUDE TO UNEMPLOYMENT

The Depression changed the view of unemployment from being the fault of the individual to a social phenomena requiring government action.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

First proposed as a federal program in 1935, it was struck down as unconstitutional because it was considered a provincial responsibility. By 1940, a constitutional amendment allowed for the implementation of the federal Unemployment Insurance Act.

MEDICARE

During the Depression most Canadians could not pay for medical help. Doctors often received payment in the form of goods, not cash. Beginning in the 1930s, various public and private insurance schemes were tried. Eventually, Ottawa legislated universal medicare, which was passed in 1966 and implemented in 1968.

MARKETING BOARDS

During the Depression, farmers suffered greatly from a drop in the price of wheat — from $1.03 a bushel in 1928 to twenty-six cents a bushel in 1932. The Canadian Wheat Board was established in 1935 to assist farmers in bringing their grain to international markets and to establish a minimum price for wheat. The wheat board marketing monopoly was ended in 2012. However, marketing boards for other agricultural products remain.

LAND CONSERVATION

The Depression coincided with a drought on the prairies, turning much of the region into a dust bowl. The federal government established the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) in 1935 to create remedial programs, such as shelter belts, strip farming, and community pastures. After seventy-seven years of the program’s operation, Ottawa announced in 2012 that it was cutting the PFRA. Conservation groups want the current government to reinstate it.