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The Great Depression and its Impacts on Prairie Provinces.
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- Canadian history
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A grade 10 academic history report on how the prairie provinces were impacted by the Great Depression. It earned a 100% grade.
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The Great Depression and Its Impact on the Prairie ProvincesShelby Bryan
CHC2D
Mr. Oakes
April 17, 2020
, Bryan 1
The stock market is said to have crashed on October 29, 1929. This day was also known
as “Black Tuesday”. The devastating impacts of the Great Depression would be felt across the
world for over a decade. The Prairie Provinces of Canada were among some of the hardest-hit
regions during the Great Depression. The depression influenced the Prairies economically,
socially, and politically. These effects would be felt until the end of World War II.
Firstly, after the end of World War I, an economic boom occurred. The price of wheat
was “$2.37 a bushel and Saskatchewan farmers prospered. But after the war, other countries
produced bumper wheat crops and placed tariffs on grain imports to protect their farmers”.1 The
majority of the Prairies wheat crop is exported around the world. With tariffs being placed on
wheat, the farmers lost their international market. After the stock market crash in 1929, the price
of wheat dropped lower each year. By “1932, it had dropped again – to 35 cents [a bushel]”.2 The
bulk of people who lived in the prairies at the time were wheat farmers. This meant these
provinces and their farmer’s main source of income became almost obsolete. The farmers
“experienced a drop in their income of 60% during the Great Depression”.3 The loss of income
created several more problems for not only the farmers but the banks. In order to get through the
growing season financially, farmers would take out loans from banks. These loans would cover
the cost of the season. The wheat growers would wait until the price of wheat was high. Then,
they would sell their product and pay back their loans from the banks. However, when the Great
Depression impinged on the price of wheat, the farmers could not pay back their loans. As a
result, banks became insolvent (run out of funds). To stay open, banks had to foreclose farms
that did not pay back their loans. “When a bank had to foreclose and sell the land, they couldn’t
make up the difference. So, banks would take all of the assets pledged to the loan”.4 Furthermore,
farm families would lose their farm and everything else they owned.
As mentioned previously, after the war, some countries placed tariffs on imports and
more specifically on agricultural products. During the First World War, there were no tariffs on
wheat exports to America as it was in high demand. Wheat was needed to send overseas to the
soldiers. However, after the war, the United States of America and other European nations
placed tariffs. They did so for economic reasons as well as to show nationalism. Tariffs began
affecting Canadian farmers in 1922 when they were raised to “30 cents a bushel”.5
Unfortunately, it only got worse for prairie farmers during the Great Depression. In 1930, the
Smoot-Hawley Act was enacted. The goal of the act was to protect American farmers during the
Great Depression. The act “increased 900 import tariffs by an average of 40% to 48%”.6 The act
prevented prairie farmers from exporting their wheat. This caused a crisis as 70% of the prairies
crop was exported. Eventually, the act not only deepened the depression in the prairies. The act
that was supposed to protect American agriculture backfired. The Smoot-Hawley Act “raised
1
Margaret Hoovegeen and Sarah Murdoch, Creating Canada, 2nd ed. (Toronto, Ontario: McGraw-Hill Ryerson,
2014), http://k12resources.nelson.com/social_studies/9780176930578/student/index.html?isbn13=9780176930578)
2
Hoovegeen and Murdoch, “Creating Canada”
3
Annie Ballantyne, “Western Canadians During the Great Depression,” Sutori, n.d.,
https://www.sutori.com/story/western-canadians-during-the-great-depression--xGruX46aq7KgekUPyA1CZMKG)
4
Bill Ganzel, “Farming in the 1930s,” Living History Farm (Ganzel Group, 2003),
https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/money_09.html)
5
Martin Armstrong, “Did Tariffs Caus Great Depression?,” Armstrong Economics (Armstrong Economics , July 9,
2018), https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/sovereign-debt-crisis/did-tariffs-cause-great-depression/)
6
Kimberly Amadeo, “What the Smoot Hawley Act Can Teach Protectionists Today,” the balance, August 6, 2019,
https://www.thebalance.com/smoot-hawley-tariff-lessons-today-4136667)
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