Great Depression Jeopardy!

1. Great DepressionJeopardy! Welcome to:

2. Depression Facts King & Bennett Wall Street Wheat Crop What a Relief! Who Am I? 100 100 100 100 100 200 200 200 200 200 300 300 300 300 300 400 400 400 400 400 500 500 500 500 500

3. The region of the world was hardest hit by the Great Depression.

4. Canada Was hit the hardest and took the longest time to recover.

5. The decade which encompassed the Great Depression became known as this unflattering term:

6. ‘The Dirty Thirties’ For a variety of reasons.

7. In 1929, the Department of Labour insisted that a family needed $1200-1500 a year to maintain this:

8. ‘Minimum Standard of Decency’ In fact, 60% of men and 82% of women earned less that $1000 a year.

9. Economist John Maynard Keynes said that the Depression didn’t occur because people lived beyond their means. It occurred because:

10. The economy shut down because too many people had no money to buy what the country could produce. We didn’t have the means to support our country’s output.

11. October 29, 1929 was the day the US stock market crashed. This day became known as:

12. ‘Black Tuesday’ Buying on Margin Fails.

13. In 1929, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King said he would not give provinces that opposed his policies any government money – this famous speech cost him the election (lucky for him).

14. ‘The Five-Cent Speech’ He believed it was a Tory plan to get votes in the provinces. Any economic hardships did not affect King (he was rich).

15. Aside from economics, King wasn’t worried about the oncoming Depression. His reasons:

16. - Spiritualist said things were good.- He’d just cut the sales tax to 1%.- One mention of ‘conscription’ would get the people of Quebec ticked off at the Tories again.

17. Richard Bedford Bennett was born in this Atlantic Canadian province.

18. New Brunswick (Fredericton) Although this area doesn’t celebrate his accomplishments very often…

19. WLMK replaced the CRBC with this station. He also began Canada’s first airline. Name both of these:

20. - Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC)- Trans Canadian Airline (TCA)

21. Bennet’s ‘New Deal’ certainly was a hot topic for Canadians. Why did many Canadians feel the New Deal violated civil rights?

22. - Business owners would be legally required to provide minimum wage, unemployment insurance and follow a maximum number of hours an employee could work, among other things. This could be a major pain in their…wallets.

23. In Stock Market Terms:Investors pay only part of the price of a stock, promising to pay the remainder when the stock makes money and the investor cashes out.

24. Buying on Margin Only works if stocks are actually rising in price. When the stocks decline, investors haven’t made any money to pay back the stockbrokers – everybody loses.

25. The US stock market failed in 1929, because:

26. Prices of stocks began to fall and brokers began looking for their ‘buying on margin’ money. Investors didn’t have the money since their stocks weren’t making any money! Suddenly, everyone is trying to sell his stocks and no one is buying!

27. The crash in the US stock market had a devastating effect on Canada – and it had nothing to do with our stocks…

28. Americans could no longer afford to buy our goods.Canadian manufacturers had fewer people to buy their products.They had to lay off workers and cut the wages of employees lucky enough to keep their jobs.

29. While it is romantic to blame the stock market for Canada’s Great Depression, it is also wrong. We can blame this:

30. An enormous 1928 wheat crop. Aaron Sapiro coerced farmers into forming a Wheat Pool which would control and regulate prices.

31. How did the Wheat Pool help bring Canada into the Depression?

32. Too much wheat and competition. A wheat ‘cartel’ only works if there is just the right amount of wheat and also if there is no serious competition. In 1928, we had too much wheat and faced competition from Russia, US, Argentina, Australia.

33. RBB created the CRBC to serve this purpose:

34. To tell people how well we were doing (propaganda). It also provided escape from the hopelessness of the Depression. The media accepted the solemn duty of trying to make people forget about the misery of the Depression.

35. The relief system in Canada was no relief. Why?

36. The Misery of Relief • No employment insurance. • ‘Riding the Rails’ • Relief camps (former internment camps) • 8 hour work days in exchange for food, lodging, and 20¢ a day.

37. This Canadian region was hardest hit by the Great Depression:

38. The Prairies • No rain so the topsoil blew away. • Grasshoppers. • Flour bag clothing, gophers for meals, lost farms. • Saskatchewan was the poorest province – even Newfoundland sent relief in the form of salt cod.

39. Any criticism of RBB and his policies during the Great Depression was met with what sort of response?

40. He would blame the Communists. WLMK was happy not to be in power. He had much more fun poking holes in RBB’s leadership and not having to make the hard decisions that pleased no one.

41. In 1935, workers in BC relief camps organized the ‘On to Ottawa Trek’. What city did the trekkers make it to, and what happened once their journey was halted?

42. 1000 Trekkers? • Made their way to Regina, Saskatchewan. • Eventually turned into a riot, killing two men – RBB was roundly criticized .

43. When people across the country became dissatisfied with the government, new political parties began to spring up. Name two of them:

44. Social Credit PartyCo-operative Commonwealth Federation Outside of Western Canada, these parties stood little chance of success.

45. During the 1935 election, King chose ‘King or Chaos’ as his slogan. What were his promises?

46. Trick Question! He didn’t make any promises – he didn’t have to. He was lucky that RBB ruled during the worst of the Depression and – fairly or unfairly – he got blamed for many of the problems in Canada at the time.

47. RBB’s controversial plan to drag Canada out of the Depression included what sorts of ideas?

48. ‘The End of Laissez-Faire’ • Unemployment insurance. • Minimum wages. • Maximum hours of work. • Marketing legislation for farmers. • Measures against price-fixing. • Federal trade commission. • Many Canadian felt RBB’s ‘New Deal’ violated their civil rights. Little did they know King would implement most of these policies when he became PM.

49. Who am I?I was the Prime Minister of Canada (briefly) who groomed RBB for his term as the leader of this nation. I am also sure that WLMK did not respect me a great deal, in part because of my handiwork on the Conscription Bill.

50. Arthur Meighen In the end, however, I think WLMK liked me a little better than RBB – which places me just ahead of cholera…