Canada
Canada's economy at the time was just starting to shift from primary industry (agriculture, farming, fishing, mining, logging) to manufacturing. Exports of raw materials plunged, and employment, prices and profits fell in every sector. Canada was the worst-hit (after the United States) because of its economic position. It was further affected as its main trading partner (until 1942) was England, followed by (and eventually becoming) the United States, both of which were badly affected by the Great Depression.
The American Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, passed on June 17, 1930, hurt every Canadian export sector and led to Canadian retaliation and closer ties to the British Empire.
The Federal Government initially refused to offer large-scale aid or relief to the provinces, much to the anger of provincial premiers, but it eventually gave in and started a Canadian "New Deal" type of relief program by 1935. By 1937, the worst of the Depression had passed, but it had left its mark on the country's economic landscape.
Read more about this topic: Cities In The Great Depression
Famous quotes containing the word canada:
“Canadians look down on the United States and consider it Hell. They are right to do so. Canada is to the United States what, in Dante’s scheme, Limbo is to Hell.”
—Irving Layton (b. 1912)
“In Canada an ordinary New England house would be mistaken for the château, and while every village here contains at least several gentlemen or “squires,” there is but one to a seigniory.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This universal exhibition in Canada of the tools and sinews of war reminded me of the keeper of a menagerie showing his animals’ claws. It was the English leopard showing his claws.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)