A Deep Dive: Understanding the Great Depression in Canada

This essay provides an overview of the Great Depression in Canada, analyzing its causes, consequences, and impact on various sectors of the Canadian economy. It references a Quebec song, La Bolduc-Cavavenir descouragez-vous Pas, to illustrate the travails of Canadians during this period. The ...Read More

Running head: CANADIAN DEPRESSION 1
Canadian Depression
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)

CANADIAN DEPRESSION 2
The great depression in Canada
The Great Depression in Canada by Waterloo
Summary
This study focuses on a Canadian article, The Great Depression in Canada written by
Waterloo (Waterloo Region Record, 2013) which relates to a song from Quebec (linguee.com,
2017) that talks about the travails of Canadians during the Great Depression. The article
indicates the results of the great depression that hit Canada to a very large extent in the 1930s
(Waterloo Region Record, 2013). This article helps in explaining and expounding the song; La
Bolduc-Cavavenir descouragez-vous Pas, a Quebec.
The songs focused on the impacts of this massive depression on the economy of Canada.
As per the evidence from the above article it is evident that most people in this country were
greatly affected by this situation. Most people suffered to a very great extent due to this crisis
(MacGee, 2016). At that particular time the economy of Canada was dependent on trade as a
major economic activity. They were also dealing in foreign trade with their crucial trade partners
being the Americans. When America sought to increase the prices on their goods then the
depression situation in Canada worsened to unimaginable extent making most of the people
suffer. Most of the largest companies in Canada became bankrupt, with no money to pay their
employees.
The transport industry in Canada was the one that was explicitly affected by this crisis
since most of the vehicle companies especially those that exported goods collapsed leading to a
downfall of almost 50% in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, most of people were affected
by deprivation and drought that made them depend entirely on the government as well as the big

CANADIAN DEPRESSION 3
non-governmental organizations that were ready to offer help (Wilson, 2005). Although people
lives were at stake with most people suffering, there was no immediate government aids to help
reduce the depression levels. In spite of all the suffering to the Canadians, the political situations
and culture were still maintained showing that most people, though suffering, were ready to least
maintain their political backgrounds and culture. More surprisingly no socialism or communism
government systems came up. The levels of unemployment were also so high due to depression
making the government seek some other ways to help the unemployed. One of the method used
by the government was to set up relief camps to help the unemployed. This was quite a remedy
to this puzzling situations. Some of the major consequences of the massive depression included
the following: Inadequate commodities, unemployment problems, huge prices on products,
increased levels of poverty, low standards of living as well as unfavorable economy. Just like
Canada, the impacts of depression were devastating at a global level.
The Global Great depression.
This mayhem on the world economy started in the late 1920s, most probably 1929 and
lasted for almost ten years. This was the largest, longest and most massive depression that had
ever affected the industrialized world in the Western countries (Matziorinis, 2016). Though this
crisis originally originated in the USA, it had a very great impact on almost the economy of
every country in the world. The effects of this crisis were also on the culture and the social life of
the people of the USA. This depression was ranked second in USA due to the civil wars and it
was the worst in the history of America.
The time this depression occurred its degree was not quite similar in the different
countries of the world. Depression affected the USA, Canada and the European countries for

CANADIAN DEPRESSION 4
quite a long time. On the other hand, Japan and the Latin America experienced this depression
for small periods and to smaller extents. There were several factors that steamed this depression
and this included; reduced demand for goods, financial chaos and panics, unfavorable policies by
the government and so many more. This led to a decline in the output especially in the USA
(Uebele, 2015). The gold standard exchange rate that linked almost all the countries of the world
played an important role in over sending the American downturn to almost all the countries in
the world. Most of the nations were able to recover from this crisis when they decided to stop
using the gold standard as the exchange currencies and implemented the use of monetary terms
to transact businesses. Indeed, the great depression led to fundamental adjustments in most
economic institutions, economic policies and economic theories.
The great depression in the United States began during summer in 1929. This situation
worsened in the late 1929 and continued affecting the USA until 1933. The prices of goods and
the output went down abruptly (Uebele, 2015). The industrial production fell by 45% and the
Gross domestic product fell by 33%. The wholesale price index (WCP) fell by 36% indicating
high deflation rates. Though, these statistics are thorough debated for their accuracy, it was
accurately seen that the rate of unemployment was above 21%. These statistics when compared
to that of another depression in Canada indicate that the above depression was the worst. Since in
the early 1980s to 1982, the gross domestic product declined by 1.9% and the rate of
unemployment was just under 9.9%. Additionally, during this period the prices on products
continued to rise, though the price rate increase was quite slow. This situation is termed as
disinflation.
The Great Britain was among the countries that struggled with low growth rate and high
recession rates from 1925 to 1930 since it wanted to return to the gold standard exchange rate

CANADIAN DEPRESSION 5
with a high valued pound. It should be noted though that Britain was not affected severely by this
depression until in the 1930s. Even the decline in the industrial production was just almost 1/3 of
what had occurred in the USA. France also experienced just a short and little downturn in early
1930s (Wilson, 2005). Their recovery from this crisis in the 1932 to 1933 was however for just a
short period since the production and prices on goods fell in the year 1933 to 1936. The economy
of Germany fell down in the early 1928, it stabilized and again fell in the late 1929. The decline
in the industrial production was just the same as that of the United States. Various Latin
countries were also affected by this situation in the late of the year 1928 and early 1929, just
before the decline in the U.S output. Some less developed nations such as Argentina and Brazil
experienced mild depressions while others were experiencing this depression to larger extents.
The price deflation in the USA was also evident in other countries. To be precise almost
every industrialized nation experienced a decline of the wholesale prices of 31% or even more
between the years 1929 and the year 1933. Since the Japanese pricing structure was quite
flexible, the deflation experienced in the 1930 to 1931 was abnormally rapid (Waterloo Region
Record, 2013). The prices on the basic commodities that were traded at that time also declined.
For instance, between September of 1929 and December of 1930 the price on commodities such
as silk, coffee, cotton, rubber was decreased by almost half the initial price. This led to a decline
in the terms of trade abruptly for the producers of this products.
The recovery from this depression by the USA began in the spring 1933. The output by
the industries grew rapidly by 1935. The gross domestic product rose by almost 9% rate between
the year 1933 to 1937. The output had adversely fallen during the initial periods of this
depression that it remained low for quite some periods (Wilson, 2005). In 1937 to 1938 the USA

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suffered yet another depression, which was well countered and the economy grew at a very high
rate. In 1942 the output of the USA returned to the initial long-run level.
The recovery from this depression by the rest of the countries was quite different. The
economy of Britain was stabilized just after they decided to abandon the gold standard in 1931
September, though the actually recovery began in the year 1932. Most of the countries in Latin
America stabilized in the late 1931 and the early 1932. Japan and Germany started recovering in
the year 1932 during fall (Waterloo Region Record, 2013). Canada and some other European
countries revived at the same time just at the USA. Additionally, France, that had experienced
late massive depressions started recovered late in 1938.
Causes of the great depression
One of the major causes of this depression in the USA was the reduced spending
(aggregate demand), that led to reduced production as most of the merchandisers and
manufacturers noted that there was a rise in the inventories. The sources of the reversible
reduction in the size of spending in the USA was different over the different causes of
depression, but all this led to a grand reduction in the aggregate demand (MacGee, 2016). The
decline in America was over sent to almost all the other countries of the world. It should also be
noted that some other factors also led to the depressions in different countries of the world.
The Interpretation of the Song in Relation to the Article
The lyrics of the song were based on the effects that the great depression had on the
Canadians. The words of the songs were written to show how the country’s economy could
affect the lives of people (linguee.com, 2017). It shows how depression affected the lives of
people in Canada. Additionally, the song also shows the Canadian culture as well as the

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government’s role during that chaotic period. It also captures the different perspectives in the
economy, perspectives of culture and also the social perspectives. This song was thus trying to
show the socio-economic, the cultural and the political perspectives of the Canadian people at
that time.
In paragraph one, there is a message of hope to all the people living in Canada. The
words ‘My Friends’ as used by the singer depict a message of togetherness and shows that the
writer knows and comprehends what everyone is experiencing. It also shows that the singer
understands the puzzling situations the entire country is undergoing since he narrates that he
knows the weather is hard indicating hardships (linguee.com, 2017). The singer also encourages
the people not to give up. The singer then assures the entire public that these hardships should be
left to the government that will help restore order in the chaotic economy. The singer narrates
that the winter should be left to the new government giving an implication that that the
government have the mandate of dealing with the challenges people are facing.
The song also tries to show the political settings in the government of Canada stating that,
‘the government comes and goes’ which shows that the government just serves for a given
period. He author notes that they will complain in Montreal showing that they will not keep quite
but will demonstrate if the government does not do something (Matziorinis, 2016). The above
interpretations show that Canada has different social groups. The singer also states that the
people in Canada are kindhearted but it is this situation that is making them complain. He says
that they are not bad but the reason making them complain is because in the Quebec province
they eat bread that is dry. This shows how the people are suffering from drought.

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He sings that there is no work in Canada implying the high unemployment rates. He
states further that though some states are stable, most of the parts are undergoing economic
difficulties. The writer explains that everything is expensive indicating that there are high rates
of inflation and the goods have high prices. He indicates that if a person need to survive then he
has to borrow. It also shows the low standards of living of the people. This song is entirely about
the consequences and impacts of the depression in Canada: inadequate jobs, low standard of
living, high cost of living, and unaffordable prices on goods.

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References
linguee.com. (2017). ça va venir découragez-vous pas. Retrieved from www.linguee.com:
https://www.linguee.com/french-english/translation/%C3%A7a+va+venir+d
%C3%A9couragez-vous+pas.html
MacGee, P. S. (2016). Trade, Relative Prices, and the Canadian Great Depression. Vancouver,
Canada.
Matziorinis, K. (2016). The Causes of the Great Depression: A Retrospective. Carlifonia:
University of Carlifonia.
Uebele, T. A. (2015). The Global Impact of the Great Depression. London: London School of
Economics and Political Science.
Waterloo Region Record. (2013, 3 28). The Great Depression hit Canada the hardest. Retrieved
from www.therecord.com: https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/2628477-the-great-
depression-hit-canada-the-hardest/
Wilson, S. J. (2005). Canadian Economic Development and Factor Movements before the Great
Depression. University of Regina.