The Problem The subject of this paper is the Canadian chartered banks during the period from 1930 to 1935. In these years of economic disruption, strains were imposed on the banking system and criticisms levelled at the banks to an unprecedented extent. These strains and criticisms came from diverse sources, and the problem has been to identify the demands which they made on the banks, the sources of the demands, the nature of the banks' responses, and the effectiveness of the banks' reactions. The Investigation The problem was tackled first through a consideration of the main features of the Canadian banking system. This involved not only the determination of the machinery of the banks but also the main ideas which determined the conduct of the bankers. The former aspect of this question was determined not only from statements by the bankers and books published under the aegis of the banks, but also from governmental and academic accounts of the system. The question of the bankers' rationale was largely investigated through the statements of the leading bankers and from the nature of the proposals made by the bankers in response to specific situations. The investigation was then concentrated on the position taken by the banks with respect to certain economic problems of importance. The period saw considerable discussion of these problems by both bankers and non-bankers, and much of the commentary on the questions was garnered from that discussion. The final area investigated was that of problems raised by various groups in Canada and the response of the banks to these. In general, the method followed was to determine the precise nature of each problem, the sources from which these came and their reasons for raising the questions, and the position taken by the banks in response. Conclusions The study concludes that the Canadian chartered banks performed a commendable function for Canada during the first years of the Great Depression. In a period which saw financial disruptions and innumerable bank failures in other countries, the chartered banks provided Canada with stable institutions which commanded national as well as international respect. The security of Canada's banks was never seriously questioned. It is not possible to evaluate the importance of this confidence instilled by the banks; that it was essential to the economic welfare of the nation was evident. That the bankers pursued policies which showered on their heads the abuses of many people does not alter the fact that those policies in the long run were essential to the financial well-being of the nation. The bankers must be commended for pursuing unpopular courses. But this praise of the banks is tempered. They were private institutions of national importance. Consequently they had a responsibility for the public repercussions of their policies. They must be criticised not that they pursued policies antagonistic to the general welfare but rather that they were never willing to consider the broader consequences of their actions. Compounding this shortcoming was the fact that the 'laissez-faire' philosophy expounded by the bankers could no longer be sustained, since the gold standard, on which the operation of that philosophy had rested, had been abandoned. In the hiatus of leadership, the banks declined to contribute to the creation of a managing authority. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis has been to examine the effects of the Great Depression on the rural Cowichan Valley district of Vancouver Island. During the period under consideration the Cowichan area contained a small city which was surrounded by an area of expanding rural settlement, which was in turn encompassed by a vast, heavily timbered hinterland. As a result, it has been possible to view the consequences of the depression on a variety of types of people, and on two of the province's principal economic concerns, namely agriculture and lumbering. The introductory section of the paper gives a brief review of the valley's economic, political and social background from 1850 to 1912. It is contained in the thesis in order to familiarize the reader with the Cowichan region and some of its traditional problems and biases. Chapter I, "The People: a Builder", is a chronological investigation of the political, social and economic developments which took place in the 1920's decade, and is in essence a preparatory chapter, giving pertinent background material to the actual study of the depression. It reveals the slow currents of change which took place in the years following World War I. Many of the problems experienced during the reconstruction period and throughout the post-war depression, particularly in the field of provincial politics, will be seen to fade in importance during the prosperous years toward the end of the decade, only to re-emerge even more forcefully during the thirties. This is particularly true with regard to political disaffections expressed by the farmers of the community. This chapter also reveals the growing importance to the valley's economy of the local lumber industry. Before World War I agriculture was regarded as Cowichan's basic source of income, but by 1929 the forest industry was employing many hundreds of men and distributing thousands of dollars annually in the valley. The first chapter concludes with a review of circumstances in Cowichan as they stood in 1929. The citizens of the district could look back over a decade of ever-increasing prosperity, and look forward to the future with a sense of unbounded optimism. From the quantities of raw material available in the local newspaper, church records, municipal minutes, local histories and government publications, the story of the Winter Years in Cowichan has been gathered. Three years of unemployment, deprivation and suffering, the likes of which had never before been experienced in the valley, were ushered in with the collapse of British Columbia's lumber industry early in 1930. Chapter two gives witness to the gradual deterioration of community life which took place between 1930 and 1934, in spite of the continued efforts of individuals, civic organizations, and the local municipal governments to meet the needs of the ever-increasing number of unemployed. Chapter three relates the story of Cowichan's struggle to throw off the mantle of the Winter Years and to regain the prosperity which the community had enjoyed in 1929. The key to this recovery was discovered in 1934 with the establishment of new world markets for British Columbia's lumber trade. Within a matter of weeks the problems of the depression seemed to belong to the past as the majority of the valley's population began to reap the benefits of the renewed harvest of forest products. It was during this period of recovery, however, that the most forceful reactions were registered in Cowichan against the preceding years of misery and suffering. The old-line political parties were accused of gross inadequacies as the traditionally Conservative Cowichan-Newcastle riding elected a new provincial representative whose platform was based solely on the tenets of the Oxford Group. Unrest was also prevalent among many of the young men who were employed in the local logging camps. They felt that a certain degree of responsibility for the depression lay with the capitalistic "boss-loggers". The men were encouraged in these beliefs by the machinations of a group of militant Communists who had gained control of the province's lumbering and longshoremen's unions. For three consecutive years these men threatened Cowichan's economic recovery by taking the loggers and the longshoremen out on strike in an effort to disrupt production in British Columbia's primary industry. It was only with the settlement of the last of these labour problems in 1936, that the Cowichan area threw off the last vestiges of the depression. The general conclusions reached in this study indicate that while the depression in Cowichan was relatively short-lived, and was not as severe as that experienced in other parts of the province, it did have some very decisive effects. Politically it resulted in a definite swing from right to left, as Cowichan went into the depression a traditionally Conservative riding and emerged supporting the C.C.F. party. Economically, the depression saw the virtual collapse of Cowichan's agricultural economy, while the position of the lumber industry was greatly strengthened. Socially, the depression witnessed many changes. The effect of years of deprivation and uncertainty on the individual was traumatic. For the community as a whole the early 1930's had been a severe test, but in the long run they had resulted in a stronger sense of understanding and solidarity among the varied groups which were included in the valley's population. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

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Two main points histories of the Second World War in Canada traditionally emphasize are (1) the role of war-related fiscal policy in finally ending the Great Depression and (2) the success of government control over the economy. Potential output estimates show a large output gap still in existence in 1939, with it quickly closing by 1941. The Dominion government's war-related fiscal policy emerges as the factor explaining this rapid recovery. But Dominion fiscal policy was also important to recovery before the war. Canada's participation in bi-lateral trade negotiations, which lowered tariffs, the chief instrument of contemporary Dominion government fiscal policy, in reciprocation for similar concessions, stimulated exports, the chief source of recovery before the war. / The matter of success rests largely on how well the Department of Munitions and Supply achieved the Dominion government's strategic aims during the war. Two strategic aims identified in this thesis are the government's desire to minimize the costs associated with war production and to avoid over-expansion in the iron and steel industry. Examining the production records of the Dominion Steel and Coal Company (Dosco), a primary iron and steel firm, and the Trenton Steel Works, a secondary manufacturing firm, shows how the government allocated production in a least cost manner among Canadian producers, consistent with the first of these two aims. Through its Crown Corporations, the Department also strove to minimize the costs associated with establishing war plant. Concerning the second aim, the government avoided rehabilitating Dosco's steel plate mill until sufficient domestic demand warranted it. With its capacity extraneous to the Canadian industry, the government closed the mill after the war. In contrast to the importance previous research placed on political factors in explaining the government's conduct of the war effort, this thesis argues that considerations production costs and input prices were a vital part of the government's decision making process.