Alternative Responses

• Major C H Douglas believed the depression was caused by a lack of purchasing power and a lack of money in circulation
• Douglas thought distributing money through social credit would stimulate production
• Douglas' idea gained support in Alberta, where there was hostility to banks and mortgage companies
• William Alberhart became the leader of the Social Credit Party, and argued there was a product surplus in Alberta but had no money to buy them
• Alberhart thought paper credit of $25 a month would improve the situation
• In 1935, the Social Credit Party was 54% of the vote in Alberta, but was not allowed to implement its ideas
• The Antigonish Movement was started by Jimmy Tompkins and Moses Coady, Catholic priests, in Nova Scotia and advocated for co-operatives, banks, marketing agencies and stores to sell goods
• The Antigonish Movement raised issues with capitalism but offered no wider solutions
• The Antigonish Movement was influential because it advocated for adult education and credit unions, built on principles of self-reliance
• In 1932, there were 179 study clubs; in 1938, 1 110
• By 1939, every Canadian province had a credit union
• The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was formed in Calgary in 1932 by a coalition of socialist, intellectual and labour groups
• Although the CCF was compared to the Communist Party, it is more similar to the progressive movement
• The CCF had close ties with the League of Social Reconstruction, a socialist group formed in 1931, and one of its founders, F R Underhill, who helped to write the Regina Manifesto
• The Regina Manifesto said all industries should be nationalised, welfare measures should be introduced and there should be federally organised social planning
• The CCF got 300 000 votes in British Columbia, but never a national following
• The Communist Party of Canada was founded in 1924, facing poor votership, government repression and contradictory orders from Moscow
• Bennett used Section 98 of the Criminal Code to disallow presumptions of innocence regarding communists
• In 1931, 8 communist leaders were arrested
• One arrested communist leader, Tom Buck, alleged 8 bullets were fired into his cell, constituting an assassination attempt. The Minister of Justice had to release all 8 prisoners
• The Union Nationale was formed in Quebec by Maurice Duplessis as a new separatist party similar to the Action Liberale Nationale
• The Union Nationale advocated legislation to promote small businesses by destroying big businesses' power and the regulation of banks
• The Union Nationale got 58% of the votes in Quebec in 1936
• Duplessis abandoned the reforms when in power and became right-wing and authoritarian, allying with the clergy against radical ideas
• The Union Nationale was accused of being fascist and the Quebec government's Padlock Law was used against any perceived threats
• The Regina riots were part of the On-to-Ottawa trek a protest from men in labour camps
• Bennett's labour camps had bad conditions, dangerous projects and little pay
• Riots at a camp in Vancouver in 1935 demanded that the Workmen's Compensation Act be extended to include them
• The On-to-Ottawa trekkers wanted first-aid equipment and injury compensation
• The Relief Camp Workers' Union gained support and in June 1935, it organised the On-to-Ottawa trek, where 1 000 men left Vancouver camps for Ottawa to demand wages and work
• Freight trains wouldn't take them further than Regina, where police isolated them and prevented all but 8 leaders from advancing
• Bennett berated the On-to-Ottawa trek leaders and when they returned to Regina, there were serious clashes with the police and military. 2 protestors were killed
• In April 1937, 4 000 General Motors workers in Ontario striked for an 8-hour day and recognition of the United Automobile Worker's trade Union
• During the General Motors strike, Provincial Prime Minister Hepburn sent in police to intimidate the strikers, but eventually most of their demands were met