Canada and WWII’s impact on the Government

1. Canada and WWII’s impact on the Government

2. Impact of the War on the Role of Government • The state began to intervene in every sphere of life, allocating resources, controlling production, and determining wages. • The Wartime Prices and Trade Board froze prices and wages in 1941 to avoid spiralling inflation.

3. Impact of the war on the Role of Government • Ration cards or tokens were issued for scarce items such as gasoline or meat • Housewives were encouraged to plant Victory Gardens to produce their own foodstuffs as well as to save fats and metals for the war effort. • The government mobilized for war in a way that made WWI efforts look amateurish.

4. Impact of the War on the Role of Government • Canadians were afraid that depression conditions would return after the war; People wanted jobs, security and a good standard of living. • In response and under the influence of Keynesian economics, the federal bureaucracy became convinced that it needed to play a major role in directing the economy. • In 1940 a contributory scheme of unemployment insurance was created. • Further, in 1944 the family allowance or “baby bonus” began sending a monthly payment for each child.

5. Impact of the War on the Role of Government • These and other numerous programs created the modern welfare state or social welfare net that Canadians have come to expect. • The Liberal party stole these social welfare planks from Opposition parties (most notably the CCF) and established itself as the primary ruling party of Canada because it “delivered the goods”. • The government had changed with the war, and ideas of state intervention that in the 1930s had been denounced as unjustified interference with the laissez faire tradition were now heralded as essential

6. Question • How did the government unite the people during WWII and how did it change local policies during and after the war?