This information is to accompany Unit Three of the History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Chronology of Significant International Events 1900 -1939
| 1867 Confederation: | Canada becomes an independent nation. However, Britain still handled Canada's foreign relations. |
| 1896: | Wilfrid Laurier becomes the nation's first French Canadian Prime Minister. |
| 1900: | New Age of Imperialism - intensified rivalry among the major
powers of Europe, United States and Japan. This rivalry often resulted in
war such as the Spanish American War and the 1905 war between Russia and
Japan. Each of the "Great Powers" is attempting to modernize their
military forces.
Britain fears the rising military and industrial strength of Germany. Germany is building a modern navy that represents a challenge to British naval supremacy. Many in Britain, including the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, believe that since the Royal Navy provided protection for the members of the Empire, those members should contribute to the modernizing of the Royal Navy. At the 1897 colonial conference, Chamberlain proposed an imperial federation with free trade among the members and a single imperial navy. Canadian Imperialists - Many within the English-speaking population of Canada believe that the members of the Empire should in solidarity on the international stage. Therefore, Canada should support Britain's foreign policies.
|
| 1899-1902 Boer War: |
Britain requests Canada to furnish troops and equipment for
the war against the Boers in South Africa. The request divides the Canadian
nation. Many in English Canada support the request. Most French Canadians
oppose the request and sympathize with the struggle of the Boers.
|
| 1903 Alaskan Boundary Dispute: |
Canada and the United States disagree over the international boundary along the Alaska Panhandle. The dispute occurred at a time when Britain sought closer relations with the United States, with the prospect of a future war with Germany. The British government's representative on the Commission, established to solve the dispute, sided with the American claims. |
| 1909 External Affairs Department: |
In response to disunity caused by repeated British requests for Canadian involvement in international affairs, and the Alaskan Boundary Dispute, the Laurier government realized that it would be Canada's interests to control its own external affairs. Therefore, the Laurier government established the department of external affairs. |
| 1910 Naval Service Bill: |
In response to Britain's request for financial assistance to enlarge and modernize the Royal Navy, the Laurier government established a Canadian navy. The nay would be under Canadian command, but in the case of war, could be placed at the disposal of Britain. |
| 1911 Election: | Laurier campaigned on a proposal for reciprocity with the United States. He was defeated. The leaders of the Conservatives, Robert Borden, becomes Prime Minister. |
| Continental Integration |
The U.S. was overtaking Britain as Canada's major export market. By 1910, 60 percent of Canada's imports came from the United States. There were over 400 American branch plants in Canada. |
| 1912 Regulation 17: |
Ontario government passed a law that limits the use of the French language in schools. The francophone population in both Ontario and Quebec are angered. Relations between English and French Canadians are strained. |
| 1914 First World War: |
Canada, being a member of the Empire, was automatically at
war when Britain declared war against Germany.
|
| War Measures Act: | The federal government moved quickly to give itself extraordinary powers to supervise both the national economy and the population. The War Measures Act gave the government full authority to do everything it deemed necessary "for the security, defence, peace, order, and welfare of Canada." |
| "Enemy Aliens": | Immigrants from enemy countries, who were not yet British subjects, were quickly viewed as "threats" to the war effort. Anti-German feeling led to the Ontario city of Berlin being renamed for the British secretary of war, Lord Kitchener. Over 8,000 aliens were interned in detention camps during the war. |
| Pacifists: | Resentment mounted towards pacifist religious groups such as the Doukhobors, Mennonites, and Hutterites. Those groups had been granted exemption from military service when they arrived in Canada. Many Canadians felt that the groups were not doing their "fair share" in the war effort. Public resentment led the federal government, in June 1919, to barring the entry of more members of those groups into Canada. |
| 1917 Conscription: | As the war dragged on and casualties mounted, support for the war effort declined and voluntary recruitment declines. In May 1917, the Borden government introduced the Military Service Act, which allowed for conscription for overseas service. French Canada, in particular, opposed conscription. There were riots in Quebec and the unity of the nation was severely strained. |
| 1917 Vimy Ridge: | Costly Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge. |
| 1918 End of War: | On November 11, the so-called "great War" ended. During the War, over 600,000 men and women served in the Canadian army. 60,000 Canadians were killed and 126,000 were wounded. |
| 1919 League of Nations: |
Canada joins the League of Nations in 1919. The League is weakened by the failure of the U.S. to join the League. |
| 1918-1919: | Prime Minister Borden insisted that Canada attend the Versailles Peace Conference as a separate and equal member of the Empire. |
| 1921: | Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister and is determined to not have Canada engaged in a war or external action, that would threaten the unity of the nation, as occurred during the Conscription Crisis of 1917. National unity becomes a foundational principle of Canadian foreign policy. |
| 1922 Chanak Crisis: | Britain called upon Canada and the Empire to provide military support for its forces in Turkey. King did not respond to the British request. |
| Isolationalism: | In both the United States and Canada, European policies and politicians were blamed for the First World War. There was a widespread belief that North America should not become involved in any future European "intrigues." The United States Senate rejected President Wilson's plea for the U.S. to join the new League of Nations. |
| Continentalism: | By 1922, American capital investment in Canada exceeded British investment. In 1926, Canada's first permanent diplomatic mission was established in Washington. |
| 1929: | Beginning of the world-wide depression which results in rising levels of unemployment and political instability. Many lose faith in the democratic system and support totalitarian movements such as Hitler's National Socialists. |
| 1931 Statue of Westminster: |
Canada is recognized as a completely independent nation, and an equal member of the British Commonwealth. |
| 1931: | Japan invades Manchuria, a province of China. The League is unable to stop the Japanese aggression. |
| 1933: | Hitler become German chancellor and establishes a dictatorship. |
| 1935: | Mussolini's Italian armies invade Ethiopia. The League does little to "punish" the Italian aggression. |
| Appeasement: | The western democracies of Europe pursue a policy of appeasement towards the dictatorships. They wish to avoid another world war. Canada supported the British and French response to the Nazi regime. |
| 1937: | Mackenzie King visits Hitler and is impressed by the Dictator, commenting that Hitler did not want another world war. |
| 1939: | On September 1, 1939, Hitler invades Poland. The Second World War begins. The Canadian Parliament votes to declare war on Germany. |
Student Information Sheet: Chronology of Significant Domestic Events 1900 -1939
| 1896-1914: | Canada experienced an immigration boom. The Laurier government
made a concerted effort to attract European and American immigrants to settle
on the Canadian prairies.
|
| 1900s Laissez Faire Government: | Government operated on the belief that the marketplace, not government was responsible for the nation's economic well-being. Government placed few restrictions on business, and did not launch social programs to meet the needs of the poor. Poverty and unemployment were viewed as the concerns of private charities and churches and not the responsibility of government. |
| 1909 Cape Breton Miners' Strike: | When the government did intervene in the operation of the marketplace,
it intervened in favour of business, not labour. Attempts by workers to
organize unions were considered a conspiracy, and those involved faced imprisonment.
|
| Continental Integration: | American investment contributed to the growth of industry in Canada. The number of American branch plants reached 450 by 1914. Most of the industrialization and manufacturing was centred in southern Ontario. |
| 1914-1918 First World War: | The enthusiasm for the war effort soon collapsed as the war seemed to have no end, and as the number of casualties mounted. Wartime inflation caused prices to outpace wage increases. Labour felt it was sacrificing while big business seem to profit from the war. Other issues that divided the public included the Conscription Crisis, and the internment of "enemy aliens". |
| Suffrage Movement: | The shortage of manpower provided Canadian women an opportunity to enter the workplace. Their contribution was recognized. The election of the first woman to a provincial legislature in 1917 demonstrated changing attitudes towards women. In 1918, a full female franchise bill was introduced in Parliament, and in 1919, women won the right to sit in Parliament. By the mid-1920s, Canadian women had won the right to vote in all provinces except Quebec. |
| 1919 Winnipeg General Strike: | The years following the First World War were filled with labour unrest. The largest expression of labour's discontent was the Winnipeg General Strike, in May of 1919. The strikers were defeated by an alliance of business and government. |
| 1919 National Progressives: | Western discontent over perceived domination by Central Canadian economic institutions and national governments dedicated to preserve the well-being of Central Canada, translated itself into the formation of the National Progressives in 1919. |
| 1920s Co-operatives: | Farmers found that pooling their resources improved their bargaining position in the open market. Wheat pools were organized on a co-operative basis in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, during the mid-1920s. |
| 1921 Election: | Several leaders of the union movement, including J.S. Woodsworth, were elected to Parliament. |
| 1929 Stock Market Crash: | The New York Stock Market crashes in October. The result was
a collapse of wheat prices, reduction in foreign trade as other nations
erected trade barriers to protect their domestic economies, and massive
unemployment.
|
| 1932 Relief Camps: | By 1932, two million Canadians were on social relief and the government feared that the 650,000 unemployed may resort to violence. Relief camps to house single unemployed men were established across the country. |
| 1932 Regina Manifesto: | In July 1933, at a convention in Regina, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.) established its program based on democratic socialist principles. The new party represented a significant ideological challenge to laissez faire government and the principles of classical liberalism. The Manifesto called for the active intervention and participation of government in such sectors as finance, transportation, and communications. |
| 1935 Bennett's New Deal: | On January 1, 1935, Bennett announced in a series of national radio broadcasts, a program of reforms similar to those enacted by Roosevelt. He proposed reforms such as the 8-hour work day, insurance against sickness and unemployment, and an improved old-age insurance program. |
| July 1935 "On-to-Ottawa" Trek: | Workers from the Relief Camps who had congregated in Vancouver
decided to carry their protests to Ottawa by train. The trekkers received
a positive reception along the route and arrived in Regina in June.
|
| 1935 Social Credit: | In August 1935, William Aberhart's Social Credit movement wins the Alberta provincial election. The Social Credit movement represented another challenge to the existing political parties. |
This activity is to accompany Foreign Policy of the Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: National Sovereignty, External influences, Domestic Politics, Options, Foreign Policy, Paradigms and Consequences.
This activity focuses on the concepts of sovereignty and foreign influence, and how the two concepts sometimes creates tensions and challenges for Canadian people. The activity also makes students aware of the significant influence other nations have had on Canada's history, and that those influences have had both positive and negative consequences for Canadians.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues:
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Discuss how the actions of foreign nations can influence the lives of ordinary Canadians.
Provide some contemporary examples of how other nations and international events/conditions can affect the lives of Canadians.
Provide the students with a number of historical instances.
Note that nations can influence the policies and well-being of other nations through a number of ways:
Provide the students with a definition of the concept of sovereignty.
Discuss how nations resist/restrain perceived "undue" influence of other nations.
Discuss the reluctance of nations to allow other nations or entities to intrude in their national decision making and domestic politics.
Have the students identify other expressions of a nation's sovereignty:
Have the students discuss and generate examples of the positive and negative aspects of foreign influence. Provide a number of scenarios to generate the discussion:
The students could construct a concept map or analytical grid, that demonstrates the positive and/or negative consequences of one of the above examples.
Alternative activity could involve the students engaging in a dialectical activity focusing on one of the following value issue:
This activity is to accompany Sovereignty of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: National Sovereignty, Expressions of Power and Influence, Policy Options, Foreign Policy, Paradigms, and Consequences.
This activity provides students with an opportunity to investigate the relationship between Canada and Great Britain during the early years of the twentieth century.
Knowledge Objectives
The students will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Provide students with a brief description of world affairs at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Focus on European international politics, particularly the relationship between Britain and Germany.
Note: Unit One of the Grade Eleven History Curriculum will provide background information concerning the rivalry among the European powers.
Discuss with the class factors that will influence a nation's foreign policies and actions.
Have the students prepare a description of the British "paradigm" of the international world.
On the basis of the paradigm, have student groups prepare a foreign policy strategy for the British Government.
Britain had to present to the Empire, including Canada, a rationale for "contributing" to fulfilling British "needs." The British had to also indicate the type of assistance they were seeking.
Step Two
Discuss how a nation can demonstrate its influence/power on the international scene.
Have the class list various expressions of national influence/power. Possible expressions could include:
Note that governments, in attempting to influence the policies/actions of another nation, sometimes direct their appeals to the population of that other nation.
Acting as British foreign officials, have student groups develop a strategy on how to "sell" the need for the involvement of the Empire in meeting the "needs" of Britain.
Step Three
Have student groups represent the Canadian government, French Canadian nationalists, and English Canadians who wished to retain the "imperial" link with Great Britain.
The groups representing French Canada and English Canada are to prepare editorials that indicate their positions regarding any Canadian commitment to meet British foreign security needs.
The group representing the Canadian government should devise a response to Britain's request.
Each of the groups will present their positions to the class for discussion.
The groups could attempt to achieve a consensus position and compare their final position with the actual position taken by the Laurier Government.
This activity is to accompany Sovereignty of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Sovereignty, External influences, Domestic Politics, Options, Foreign policy, Paradigms, and Consequences.
This activity allows the students how the actions of other nations can have serious consequences for the national well-being of the peoples of Canada. The historical issue examined is the relationship between Canada and Great Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Have the class identify some of the key goals of any nation's foreign policy. Include:
Discuss with the students the role paradigms play in the formulation of policies.
Note that how a nation's perceives its relationship with other nations, will influence its policies at the international level.
Discuss the British "international" paradigm during the first decade of the 20th Century.
Discuss the relationship between Canada and Britain at the beginning of the 20th Century.
Discuss the two visions of Canada as expounded by Canadian proponents of Chamberlain's vision, and the vision proposed by Canadian nationalists, who favoured a more independent foreign policy for the nation.
Step Two
Have the students divide into groups and debate the issue of whether Canada had any moral and legal "obligations" towards Great Britain.
Each of the groups should:
The groups could meet, in a conference setting, and attempt to achieve a consensus on the issue of Canada's relationship with Britain and the British requests for Canadian assistance.
The students could compare their consensus position, with the actual policies formulated by the Laurier government.
This activity is to accompany Income Tax of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Rights, Responsibilities, Civil Rights, Constitution, Foreign Policy, and National Well-being.
This concept application activity focuses on the issue of individual rights and protecting the national (collective) well-being. Students will investigate historical instances in which the rights of individuals were restricted, construct a criteria that could be used to determine whether a situation requires the suspension of individual and group rights, and have an opportunity to engage in a dialectical activity on this issue.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Discuss with the students how the Canadian constitution protects individual rights.
Note that even in a democracy there are certain circumstances in which it is deemed necessary to limit the freedoms and rights of the citizenry.
Ask the students whether such limitations, in those circumstances, are justified?
Note that the value of freedom can sometimes come into conflict with other values such as order and national security.
Discuss the importance of the national well-being.
Step Two
Have the class focus on the issue of individual rights and national (collective) well-being.
Have the class develop a criteria to determine situations in which the suspension of civil rights is justified.
In developing the criteria, the students could note the following issues and factors:
Students could investigate the circumstances surrounding the following historical events:
They can apply that criteria to the historical event they were investigating and determine whether the then-government action was "justified."
Have the groups engage in a dialectical exercise focusing on one of the following issues:
This information is to accompany Charityof the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Co-operative Organizations In Saskatchewan - An Overview
Many of the co-operative enterprises we see today can trace their roots to nineteenth-century England. During that period, rapid industrialization and urbanization produced displacement and poverty for large numbers of people. Individuals who felt exploited by the competitive economic system turned to co-operatives as a way to improve their economic position. The co-operative principles first adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance in 1966 and revised in 1995, evolved from the experiences of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers of Rochdale, England. Most co-operatives in Canada generally subscribe to these principles.
Like the co-operative movement in England, the Canadian movement arose from a sense of exploitation. Prairie farmers were frustrated by the high prices charged by bankers, railroads, elevator companies, implement manufacturers and shopkeepers. Individual farmers had little control over the prices they paid for farming supplies and other commodities or over the prices they received for the products. They believed the marketplace was dominated by a few large buyers and sellers who were able to use their market power to influence prices. The formation of co-operatives was fuelled by the desire of farmers to gain control over their local economies.
The following details the development of co-operatives in Saskatchewan during the 20th century.
The Early Years (1900-1920)
During this time, farmers turned to co-operatives as a means of obtaining needed supplies and gaining greater control over the marketing of their produce. Individuals formed buying clubs to make bulk purchases of farm supplies and basic commodities. Farmers banded together to establish the Grain Growers’ Grain Company (now the United Grain Growers-UGG) to market their grain. The company also provided farm supplies to many of the buying clubs. In 1911, farmers launched the Saskatchewan Elevator Company with the aim of building an elevator system owned and controlled by farmers.
This co-operative activity prompted the provincial government to introduce the Agricultural Co-operatives Association Act in 1913. The Co-operatives Act, provided the machinery for co-operatives to become legally incorporated as businesses. The legislation also provided rules for the internal structure and procedures of co-operatives in accordance with basic co-operative principles.
World War I brought price inflation and a heightened demand for Canadian produce. This created a favourable environment for the growth of producer and consumer co-operatives. The first surviving retail co-operatives were established; and grain-marketing organizations expanded rapidly.
Centralized Marketing and Wholesaling (1920-1929)
Ownership of their own elevator company provided farmers with more control over the handling of their grain. Farmers, however, still desired better control over the marketing of their grain by means of a central buying and selling agency. Experience with centralized selling of grain through the first Canadian Wheat Board during the war resulted in pressure from farmers for a continuation of this practice. When the government did not establish a permanent wheat board, prairie farmers struggled to form their own grain-marketing organizations. These organizations would pool the production of all members, sell the produce at the best possible time, and divide the revenue among them. The successful establishment of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 1924 encouraged livestock, dairy, and poultry producers to form centralized marketing organizations two years later.
Post-World War I recessions contributed to the decline of retail co-operatives until the formation of Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited in 1928. Owned and controlled by co-operative retail stores, this central co-operative provided services such as the grouping of orders made by member retails. The establishment of the wholesale was followed by the development of many successful co-operative retails.
Surviving the Depression (1930-1940)
In the 1930s, the prairies suffered the devastating effects of a depressed economy coupled with drought. Surprisingly, the hardship of the Dirty Thirties served to strengthen the co-operative movement. Few co-operatives disappeared and many new ones were formed. Co-operatives were seen as a form of community self-help that could be established with little investment and operated using volunteer labour.(8) Educational organizations such as the Saskatchewan Co-operative Women's Guild were key players in encouraging grassroots co-operative development. Co-operative methods were used to meet a wide variety of needs during the 1930s. These included the areas of marketing, banking, and insurance, as well as the refining of oil and the provision of farm implements.
The Canadian Wheat Board took over the pooling function of the three prairie wheat pools after they encountered financial trouble early in the depression. As a result, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool ceased to act as a centralized selling agency. With grain handling as its primary function, the Pool concentrated on improving its elevator system, repaying its debts, and lobbying the government on behalf of farmers.
Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale Society met the challenge of the 1930s by developing an affiliate plan to increase sales volume. This involved co-operation with the Pool to provide bulk commodities to farmers. Pool elevator agents ordered and distributed bulk commodities on a co-operative basis in areas where consumer co-operatives had not been organized. Because they worked at a grassroots level in rural communities, Pool representatives were able to assist in organizing co-operatives and recruiting new members.
The introduction of large-scale mechanized farming in the late 1920s led to the formation of oil-purchasing co-operatives. Rising prices due to the concentration of petroleum refineries in the hands of a few firms prompted a bold initiative. In 1934, Consumers Co-operative Refineries Ltd. was incorporated in Regina. The subsequent success of this refinery contributed to future expansion of the co-operative retailing system.
Large-scale farming also produced the need for increasingly sophisticated farm machinery. Once again, high prices prompted farmers to establish farm machinery co-operatives in the late 1930s. Canadian Co-operative Implements Ltd. was founded by farmers across the prairies in 1940. Although the company grew to become one of North America’s largest farm machinery co-operatives, financial difficulties in the 1980s forced receivership of the company, and Co-operative Implements ceased to exist as a corporate entity.
During the depression, the major banking institutions made drastic cuts in the provision of financial services to the prairies. The lack of needed credit led to the growth of credit unions. Provincial legislation allowing for the formation of credit unions was passed in 1937. This legislation, which resembled the Bank Act, was much more restrictive and regulatory in comparison to the Co-operatives Act which governed non-financial co-operatives. That same year, the first community credit union was organized in Lafleche with 12 members and total assets of $52.50. By 1939, Saskatchewan had 32 credit unions with 3,000 members.
Saskatchewan was the first province in English Canada to form a central credit union system. The Saskatchewan Co-operative Credit Society (later known as Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan) was established in 1941 and quickly became a major financial service for co-operatives. It collected surplus funds from member societies and made loans to credit unions in need of temporary assistance. Another financial service that grew out of the depression was the provision of death benefits to members of Saskatchewan co-operatives through the Co-operative Mutual Benefit Association which was established in 1940.
The formation of Interprovincial Co-operatives Limited (IPCO) by the western Canadian co-operative wholesales in 1940 resulted from a desire to co-ordinate the purchasing and marketing of commodities produced and processed by co-operatives through co-op retail stores. IPCO developed the familiar CO-OP label to enhance product identification.
Growth and Diversification
A return to prosperity allowed co-operative ventures that had taken root during the depression to grow stronger and branch out into new areas. Like the previous world war, World War II brought expanded opportunities for co-operatives. New retail co-operatives formed while old ones grew and became involved in new ventures. The war also benefited grain-marketing co-operatives such as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and the United Grain Growers. Heightened demand and greater government regulation contributed to a favourable environment for many producer co-operatives.
The Co-operative Refinery and Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale were Canada’s most effective consumer-owned wholesaling and manufacturing co-operatives. The merger of these two organizations to form Saskatchewan Federated Co-operatives Ltd. in 1944 was an important step toward the establishment of an integrated co-operative retail system.
The period following 1945 was characterized by a series of mergers and amalgamation as co-operatives grew and diversified. Saskatchewan Federated Co-operatives Ltd. merged with the other western wholesales to form Federated Co-operatives Ltd. The western wheat pools, who were now handling farm supplies, became members of IPCO in 1963. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool also branched out into new areas. Examples include the establishment of XCAN, an international grain sales company in 1973, and the formation of Co-Enerco, an oil exploration company in 1981. Both initiatives involved joint ventures between the Pool and other co-operatives. A merger between the Dairy Pool and Saskatchewan Co-operative Creameries resulted in the formation of Dairy Producers Co-operative Limited in 1972. And, in 1996, Dairy Producers Co-operative Limited merged with dairy co-operatives in Alberta and British Columbia, and became Dairyworld Foods. The formation of the Co-operative Life Insurance Company and continued growth in credit unions contributed to rapid growth in the co-operative financial sector. The establishment of The Co-operators as a national insurance firm in 1978 represented a major step in this process.
Despite the necessity of cutbacks due to an economic downturn in 1979-1980 and the recession of the early 1980s, the co-operative sector has continued along a path of growth and diversification as suggested by 1996 statistics. In that year, 22 of the top 100 businesses in Saskatchewan were co-operatives. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool recorded net earnings of $48.4 million and sales of $4.1 billion. Its associated companies and partnerships totalled 15. Credit union memberships in Saskatchewan numbered 588,000. These members are served by 163 credit unions in 340 locations throughout the province. One hundred and sixty-nine retail co-operatives and their branches served communities across the province with a variety of goods and services including petroleum, food, hardware, building materials, crop supplies, feed and family fashions.
The surplus or savings generated by each retail co-op belongs to its members and can be repaid in cash or allocated to members' equity accounts. In 1995, Saskatchewan's retail co-operatives repaid $28.5 million in cash to their individual members. Yet, what is perhaps most distinctive about co-operatives is their diversity in size. Although the two largest businesses in Saskatchewan are co-operatives, many other co-ops are found in the smallest communities of the province.
Co-operatives' Response to Change
Like most other provinces, Saskatchewan is facing general depopulation of its rural communities. As a result, businesses in smaller centres are finding it increasingly difficult to operate profitably, and have been forced into economic restructuring or leaving communities.
Because of their local ownership and leadership, co-operatives and credit unions are particularly effective at responding to social and economic challenges of their communities. Through a combination of member loyalty, consolidations that have been sensitive to member and community needs, service enhancements and operating efficiencies achieved through technology, co-operatives and credit unions have been particularly effective at increasing their markets and maintaining the services vital to sustaining communities. Co-operatives are often labelled as the last businesses to leave a community. The fact that, in 1996, there were more than 130 communities where the local credit union was the only financial institution, 180 where the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was the only grain company with on-site facilities and service and 60 where the retail co-operative was the only grocery store, lends some support to this statement.
Although retail co-operatives, credit unions and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevators are the most commonly held images of Saskatchewan’s co-operatives, new co-operatives are still forming to meet diverse needs of Saskatchewan communities. Housing co-operatives, recreation centres, community health clinics, child-care and other service co-operatives represent a number of emerging co-operatives formed to provide much needed services. In 1996, there were fourteen hundred co-operatives in the province operating in areas from agriculture to health care, and at least 700,000 residents with a membership in at least one co-operative. Although rich in history, the co-operative sector in Saskatchewan continues to be a key player in the province’s economy and society.
This information is to accompany Charity of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide.
Student Information Sheet: Canada's Co-operatives - As Diverse as the Nation
Canada's 10,000 co-operatives play a significant role in the economic and social life of our country. Because co-operatives are formed to fulfil a wide range of social, economic and cultural needs, co-operatives can be found in almost every business or social sector that exists. There is also tremendous variation in size and sophistication among them. However diverse, the common feature among co-operatives is that the members are both the users and owners of the enterprise and control their co-operative on the basis of one member, one vote.
Canadians hold approximately 14 million memberships in co-operatives that exist from coast to coast. And, as shown by the examples below, co-operatives have been formed to meet the unique regional needs of Canadians.
Consumer or retail co-operatives
Consumer or retail co-operatives are organized to provide members with various types of goods or services. The basic premise behind the formation of this type of co-operative is to organize consumers to jointly purchase goods which are not available or to provide goods at lower cost.
Mountain Equipment Co-operative
Mountain Equipment Co-operative (MEC) is one of the fastest growing consumer co-operatives in Canada. It was formed in 1971 by a small group of student-climbers from the Varsity Outdoor Club of the University of British Colombia. In the words of MEC, its founders needed "cheap quality goods to nurture their outdoor habits".
Early in its life, MEC printed a catalogue to meet the shopping needs of its members. A member’s basement initially served as the retail store for the co-operative. However, interest in MEC quickly grew, making it difficult for this small retail location to keep up to the demands being made by its membership. The co-op was forced to spend money on an official retail location, computers, warehouse space and staff in order to handle the increasing volume of sales.
The success realized by its Vancouver retail outlet, led to the opening of stores in other major cities in Canada -- Calgary (1977), Toronto (1985), and Ottawa (1992). By 1996, there were plenty of reasons for Mountain Equipment Co-op to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Its worldwide membership totalled 950,000, and sales reached $110 million. The 1996 spring and summer catalogue offered 140 pages of recreation products to its members. Rather than opening more retail stores, MEC has decided to focus its energies on increasing the efficiency of its Mail Order department and planning for expansion and improvement of its existing retail locations.
One of MECs greatest challenges, as a co-operative, is to maintain the involvement of its members in the greater decisions of the co-operative. By publishing a member newsletter, which is incorporated into its catalogue, twice a year and by maintaining a cross-organizational team which focuses on direct member contact, MEC strives to keep its members educated and informed. Co-op members elect their board of directors by a mail-in ballot and are encouraged to submit "extraordinary resolutions" to be brought to the floor at the annual general meeting. Through these and other strategies, MEC has identified ways in which its members can participate in the co-operative even if they are a world away from the hub of the activity in downtown Vancouver.
Marketing or producer co-operatives
Marketing or producer co-operatives are created by service providers and producers to process, market and distribute their products. A member’s use of the co-op is measured by what she or he sells through the co-op as opposed to what she or he buys from the co-op. Marketing or producer co-operatives have been created to process, market and distribute fish, agricultural products, lumber, carpentry and crafts.
Artisan co-operatives in Canada’s North
The production and sale of fine Northern arts and crafts was pioneered in the Northwest Territories by the co-operative movement. Producer co-operatives, formed by the people of the North, provided a means of selling their arts and crafts.
Canadian Arctic Producers (CAP) was a federal government initiative created in 1965 to help the producer co-operatives wholesale and distribute their arts and crafts. At the request of the artists, CAP’s operations were turned over to Arctic Co-operatives Limited (ACL) in 1982. ACL, the federation of co-operatives in the Arctic, was incorporated in 1972 to provide a wide range of services to its member co-operatives. Because the artisan co-operatives were long time members of ACL, this transfer of responsibility to ACL was a logical step. It gave the artists ownership and control over the marketing and distribution of their arts and crafts.
Membership in ACL provides many benefits to the artisan co-operatives. Besides distribution and sales outlets for their arts and crafts, ACL also provides its member co-ops with access to accounting services, training and education, and management advice. As of 1996, ACL managed "Northern Images" a chain of six retail outlets for the artisan co-operatives and Canadian Arctic Producers, the name maintained for the two wholesale distribution outlets located in Toronto and Winnipeg. Twenty eight of ACL’s 36 member co-operatives are artisan co-operatives. Of the 11,000 individual members that make up Arctic Co-operatives Limited, 95% are of aboriginal descent.
The co-operatives in the North have brought many benefits to their members. Besides providing much needed services, jobs have been created in a region where people struggle with the lack of employment opportunities. Because the members are responsible for the operations of their co-operatives, people in the North have learned new leadership and business skills that have been utilized in other parts of their lives.
Financial co-operatives
Financial co-operatives, that are formed by individuals, provide a range of financial and insurance services to their members. These co-operatives are credit unions and caisse populaire. Other financial co-operatives are formed by a group of existing co-operatives to provide services to the member co-ops and/or the general public. These are often trust and insurance co-operatives.
North West Credit Union Limited
North West Credit Union Limited opened its doors in Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan in January, 1991, after years of hard work on the part of a great number of people in the community.
It was not until the credit union was formed that Buffalo Narrows and area citizens had convenient access to a financial institution. Banks were not interested in setting up branches in this northern area of the province, and the only financial services available before the credit union were stores that would cash cheques. People needing services from a financial institution would have to travel 250 kilometres south to Meadow Lake.
Because most people in the area had never had a bank account before 1991, North West Credit Union offered banking seminars to anyone interested. By 1996, the credit union grew to over $7 million in assets, serving 1,500 members from communities across the north west, including La Loche and Beauval.
North West's contribution to the local community has been significant. It has provided direct employment for local people, financed business ventures, donated to local charitable organizations like the Friendship Centre, minor sports, graduation committees and schools. Local residents have also been given access to the credit union's office as a collection depot and fundraising centre for charitable organizations.
Service co-operatives
Service co-operatives are formed to provide a specific service for its members. Individuals will form such a co-operative when a needed service is unavailable in a community or when individuals wish more control over that particular service. Such co-operatives have been set up to provide members with child care, health care, rural electrification, dental and funeral services.
Turtle Park Co-operative Child Care Centre
In 1975, a group of parents from Regina, Saskatchewan, formed the Turtle Park Co-operative Child Care Centre. Licensed by the Department of Social Services, Turtle Park was initially approved to provide care for 30 children ranging from 18 months to 5 years. Because the child care needs of the members grew, however, the license was eventually expanded to provide care for 50 children ranging from 18 months to 12 years. In 1996, the centre employed 6 full-time and 2 part-time trained child care providers for its 50 children.
It many ways, the Turtle Park Co-operative Child Care Centre is a bee hive of activity. Parents have formed committees to manage special needs of the centre. A successful fundraising committee, made up of member parents, was able to purchase new outdoor playground equipment for their children. Special projects, from field trips and to facility maintenance, keep parents involve. Children at the centre enjoy an active day that includes a combination of structured, teacher-directed learning and play time.
Monthly themes are identified for the childrens' activities that take place within the centre and in the community. In order to accommodate the needs of the children, the co-operative chose to hire one child care provider with training in dealing with special needs and speech and language development. By the very nature of childcare co-operatives, parents and childcare providers work together to deliver positive learning and play-time experiences for the children.
Housing co-operatives
Housing co-operatives provide affordable, quality housing for members. The resident members of housing co-operatives share responsibility and control of their homes. Housing co-operatives are sometimes organized to meet the needs of specific groups in society, including seniors, students, and ethnic groups.
Riverdale Co-operative Houses
Riverdale is a community located in Toronto's east end. In the first half of the 1900s, rapid industrialization and commercialization placed tremendous stress on the housing available to the Riverdale citizens, which was a problem faced by many Torontians. Over the years, a large number of people were forced to leave the community. The housing market had resulted in steep rent increases, insecure occupancy, deterioration in the quality of accommodation (in part due to absent landlords) and the purchase and resale of houses by outside developers for speculative profits. In response to this dilemma, a small number of the community's residents pooled their time and money and began to buy and repair houses for themselves and other Riverdale people. This was the early beginnings of Riverdale Co-operative Homes, incorporated in March of 1974.
By accessing funds through government programs, the Co-op bought and renovated properties during the 1970s and 1980s, most of which were between forty and eighty years old. The Co-op's only new property consists of 36 stacked townhouses built in 1981. By 1996, the co-operative consisted of 125 units of varying ages scattered throughout Riverdale.
Like other housing co-operatives, Riverdale Co-operative Homes is a non-profit housing venture whose aim is to provide quality, affordable housing. Its second and equally important aim, is to protect and promote its neighbourhood atmosphere. It houses a very diverse group of member-residents, representative of its multicultural and low to moderate income neighbourhood.
Although the Co-op has four hired staff and an elected board of directors, Riverdale is largely a success because of volunteer work by its members. Because Riverdale Co-op has no paid staff to do cleaning or landscaping, members are responsible for keeping the common areas clean, taking out the garbage and recycling, cutting the grass, and other day to day tasks. Twenty members provide volunteer maintenance. Its Education Committee organizes events for the co-op's members such as a Child Emergency workshop and multi-cultural socials. Organizing yard sales, producing newsletters for the co-op and participating in the acquisition and renovation of properties are only a few of the responsibilities handled by members of the housing co-operative. By volunteering time to their co-operative, members are better able to keep their housing affordable.
Worker co-operatives
Worker co-operatives provide the workers, who are the members, with employment. The members not only work in and own the co-operative, they also manage the co-operative. Examples of worker co-operatives include lumber businesses, pulp mills, taxi companies, bakeries, and print shops.
"Just us" Coffee Roasters Co-operative
"Just us" is a worker co-operative with a conscience. When one of its founders happened on the idea of wholesaling organic coffee for farmers in developing countries, it was not long until five solidarity-minded friends in Mina, Nova Scotia decided to run with the idea.
Being new to the areas of coffee, co-ops, and business, the prospective worker-members had much to learn about fair trade initiatives, business and, last but not least, about coffee. They travelled extensively to learn from the best in the business before ever roasting a single bean under the name "just us".
Employment for its members was a key reason for its incorporation in 1996. Beyond employment, however, the workers have adopted a code of conduct under which their co-op operates. The co-operative practices fair trade by paying the coffee producers a fair price for their product. Its workers chose to market organic coffee only. And, as the "just us" marketing brochure suggests, the co-op promotes understanding and respect among all people involved from coffee growers in the Third World to coffee lovers in Atlantic Canada. Another unique feature of this co-operative is its home, a newly renovated 50 year old house located on the main street of Minas.
In its first year of business, the co-op distributed approximately 2,000 pounds of coffee a month to its clients which included natural food and retail stores, bed and breakfasts, and coffee shops. Their mail order business sent coffee to outlets across Canada. After extensive renovation to their home, "just us" opened its own on-the-premises retail space. Although the worker co-operative is small in terms of its membership, "just us" is truly significant, not only to those they serve but also to those they support.
It is common for a co-operative to fall into more than one of the categories described above. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, for instance, functions as a producer or marketing co-operative and a consumer co-operative. By purchasing and selling its members' raw products, it functions as a producer/marketing co-op. However, by selling farm supplies to its members, it functions as a consumer co-operative.
This information is to accompany Charity of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The International Co-operative Alliance Statement on the Co-operative Identity
The Statement on Co-operative Identity was adopted at the 1995 General Assembly of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), held in Manchester on the occasion of the Alliance's Centenary. The Statement was the product of a lengthy process of consultation involving thousands of co-operatives around the world.
Definition
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
Values
Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.
Principles
The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice.
1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership
Co-operatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination.
2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control
Co-operatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and co-operatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.
3rd Principle Member Economic Participation
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. They usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
4th Principle: Autonomy and Independence
Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their co-operative autonomy.
5th Principle: Education, Training and Information
Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public -- particularly young people and opinion leaders -- about the nature and benefits of co-operation.
6th Principle: Co-operation Among Co-operatives
Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional, and international structures.
7th Principle: Concern for Community
While focusing on member needs, co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.
Adopted in Manchester (UK)
23 September 1995
This activity is to accompany Recession of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Interest Group, Influence, Power, Region, Politics, National Well-being, Dialectical Evaluation, Moral Tests, and Decision Making.
This activity allows provides students with an understanding that within Canadian society, there exists a competition among the regions to influence the societal and national decision making, and on occasions, the agendas of one region may be in opposition with the agendas of other regions.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Note that within a society, there exists competition among groups for influence over national, economic and social decision making processes.
Provide several examples:
Point out to students that the regions of the nation often act as interest groups seeking to implement national policies that benefit their region's well-being.
Provide the students with a scenario that demonstrate the difficulty in reconciling the interests of different regions of the nation.
Scenario One
A particular tax policy would reduce the costs of production for the farm machinery industry, while increasingly the costs for framers to purchase the equipment from the factory.
Scenario Two
A new manufacturing plant, owned by a foreign multinational, is planning to locate in Canada. The company is requesting government subsidies and tax relief, and in return, will allow the government to decide on the location of the new manufacturing plant.
Ask the students to assume the role of a national political leader.
Have the students engage in a dialectical exercise focusing on the value claims:
This information is to accompany Labour Radicalism of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Government, Business and Labour at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
In 1867, an unskilled day-labourer would earn an average of a dollar per day for a ten-hour day, and worked six days a week. A woman's wage would be half that of a man and a child labourer would earn as little as 25 cents a day. Employers offered no paid holidays. No protection existed for workers. Those who became ill or old generally faced either dismissal or reduced wages. Until 1877, masters and servants acts allowed the courts to send disobedient or absentee workers to jail at an employer's request. There were no such punishments for employers who broke their side of the bargain.
Working class families always lived in the shadow of disaster. Working conditions were difficult and dangerous. Severe injuries were commonplace in most trades. For working people, winter meant reduced wages, unemployment and souring prices for food and fuel. Poverty was considered a crime. A 1892 government report indicated that most of the inmates at the Peterborough jail were there because of the offence of poverty and an inability to find work.
Government and business leaders saw their well-being as being interconnected and as being opposed to the interests of organized labour. When the Toronto tailors associated when on strike in the 1850s, management simply replace the men with women. The courts found the tailors guilty of conspiracy and dissolved their society in 1854. George Brown, the editor and owner of the Globe, worked tirelessly to unit Toronto's major printers in cutting wage rates and increasing hours. In 1854, Brown forces union members out of his printing shop.
Employers often resorted to a number of tactics to reduce production costs. Since apprentices were cheaper than journeymen, many employers did their best to hire them. Women were often employed to replace the higher-paid male workers.
In the 1870s, leagues formed to work for a nine-hour work day emerged in Britain. The first Nine-Hour League in Canada, was formed in Hamilton. While the workers' organizations in the various urban centres failed to develop an united front, the employers were more successful in organizing to oppose the workers' demands. The movement for a nine-hour day was defeated and it would take nearly 50 years for labour to achieve that goal.
In 1871, the British Government introduced a Trade Unions Act which abolished the old crime of criminal conspiracy in restraint of trade. Although changes in British law had made it legal for workers to organize and to strike for more pay or shorter hours, the British law did not apply to Canada. In Canada, the old law against criminal conspiracy was still in effect, and employers viewed labour organization attempts as a conspiracy.
Voting was a privilege for male property owners and only a few well-paid artisans could qualify. Macdonald did however attempt to win the urban labour vote by implementing a Canadian version of the Trade Unions Act. His government also passed a similar Criminal Law Amendment Act, which imposed severe penalties, including a prison sentence, for most forms of picketing and union pressure, to please employers. Picketing remained illegal in Canada until 1934.
The 1870s proved to be a decade of unemployment, and wage cuts for most Canadian workers. However, in 1873, the Liberal government of Ontario abolished property qualifications for candidates, allowing Daniel O'Donoghue, the president of the Ottawa Trades Council, to win a provincial seat in a by-election, and become the first labour independent candidate to sit in the legislature.
The 1907 Industrial Disputes Investigation Act of 1907, (the Lemieux Act, prohibited strikes and lockouts in public utilities and mines until the dispute had been investigated by a tripartite board of arbitration representing capital and labour, with government acting as the "impartial umpire." By establishing a compulsory cooling-off period, the Act deprived organized labour of its strongest weapon, the surprise strike.
The power of business was demonstrated in the number of times in which politicians allowed business to employ troops, militia, and police to coerce labour. In 1900, the British Columbia militia and provincial police were used to aid canning companies in breaking a strike of fishermen. The fishermen were striking against low prices for their catch. In 1909, the Dominion Coal Company, employed most of Canada's permanent militia to guard mines and strikebreakers, in the process of defeating the efforts of the United Mines Workers to organize the workers.
This information is to accompany Labour Radicalism of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The Winnipeg General Strike
A troubled relationship between labour and many manufacturers/employers existed in Winnipeg for decades preceding the First World War.
The metal trades and building trades unions went on strike in early May. They both solicited support from the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council. The Council polled its members and called for a general strike.
A Citizens' Committee of One Thousand, composed of business and industrial leaders, was organized to oppose the strikers.
The federal government, led by the minister of labour, Senator Gideon Robertson, and the minister of justice, Arthur Meighen, accused the strikers of fermenting a revolution.
The Strike Committee and the Citizens' Committee did agree on a plan to allow essential services to operate during the strike.
On June 10, a minor riot erupted between strike supporters and a group of Special Police in the centre of downtown Winnipeg.
The arrest of several strike leaders, by the government, did not result in ending the strike. It prompted an angry reaction and renewed determination on the part of the strikers.
On June 21, a silent parade of strikers were attacked by police authorities. Two strikers were killed and 30 people injured.
This activity is to accompany Immigrants and Foreign Ideals of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Development Lesson for: Markets, Trade, Government, Subsidies, and Economic Cycle.
This activity provides students with an opportunity to explore the role of government, at the international level, secure a region's well-being, and to discuss whether Canadians have a responsibility in securing the well-being of other Canadians in other regions of the nation.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The students will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Provide students with the Student Information Sheet: Trade, Tariffs, and National Well-being.
The students could construct concept maps of grids that illustrate the connection between markets and Canada's economic well-being.
Have the students identify Canada's largest trading partners. Note the importance of the American market to the well-being of the Canadian economy.
Discuss factors that affect the well-being of Canadian trade at the international level. Use the example of grain markets to identify factors. Note factors such as:
Have the students identify major factors that affect the well-being of the Prairie economic well-being.
Have the students discuss how the "state" of the local, regional and national economies can influence their individual economic well-being.
Step Two
Have the students discuss why and how Canadian governments assist Canadian exporters. Note the following factors:
Discuss why it is difficult for national and provincial governments to respond to the actions of foreign governments, competitors and markets.
To illustrate the challenges that are associated with securing external markets for Canadian products and resources, provide the students with the Student Information Sheet: Canadian Agriculture: The Vagaries of the Global Market.
Focus the class analysis and discussion of the S.I.S. on the following:
Have groups of students construct an analytical grid or concept map that illustrates the relationship of various factors in creating a periods of economic prosperity and economic downturns for the Canadian economy.
Groups should include the following factors:
Have each group present their illustrations to the class and analyze the conditions/situations that are the causation of prosperity or recessions.
Have the students discuss the "vulnerability" of economies, such as Canada's, that significantly depend on foreign markets.
Each group could develop a plan of action and present that plan to the class for discussion.
This information is to accompany Activity Six of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Trade, Tariffs and National Well-being
Canada was not the only nation that suffered during the Great Depression. The Depression was global. Canada however was especially hard hit because 33 percent of its gross national income came from selling goods to other countries. By the latter 1920s, the United States had bypassed Britain has Canada's largest export market. When consumer demand and manufacturing production declined in the United States, the Canadian economy suffered. What products Canada was able to sell of foreign markets, were sold at lower prices. Falling demand and overproduction had led to a drop in the prices of many export goods.
A common response of many nations was to place high tariffs on foreign-made goods. The high tariffs were designed to keep out foreign goods. Each country attempted to protect its own industries by trying to ensure that they did not have to face foreign competition from foreign industries. With fewer markets, those industries cut back production and unemployment rose. The Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930, enacted by the U.S. Congress, in 1930, led to high duties being placed on farm imports.
Canada was an exporting nation. Eight percent of the products from the nation's agricultural, forest and mining sectors, were sold abroad. When the demand for Canadian wheat, pulp and minerals declined, those sectors suffered greatly. Those businesses associated with the export trade also suffered. The railways carried less wheat. In response, the railways laid off workers and stopped buying goods and services, such as rails, it needed for its operations. With a decline in the demand for steel rails, the steel industries reduced production and cut jobs. The reduction in grain being transported led to unemployment among the longshoremen in ports such as Vancouver.
This information is to accompany Activity Six of the Unit Three Activity Guide
Student Information Sheet: Canadian Agriculture and the Vagaries of the Global Market
Agriculture provides one illustration of how global forces can influence the well-being of Canadians and specific regions of the nation. Agriculture is the dominant economic activity of the Prairie region of Canada. The exporting of agriculture produce and technology is of great significance to the economic well-being of the entire nation.
A study of Canadian agriculture and export markets reveals one constant - the agricultural sector remains vulnerable to international conditions including the trade practices of other nations.
The early 1970s saw high grain prices and secure world markets. Despite being a period of high inflation and interest rates, many Canadian farmers borrowed to expand their farming operations. They expected the "boom" to continue.
The early 1980s, were to see events and policies, originating in Europe, that were to threaten the sale of Canadian grains to that market.
When international grain prices deflated many farmers experienced a severe decline in income and some farmers were forced to abandon their farm operations.
This information is to accompany Immigrants and Foreign Ideals of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: On-to-Ottawa Trek
In 1935, large numbers of men had left the relief camps and congregated in Vancouver. In Vancouver, they organized a march to Ottawa to present their demand to the government. The men boarded freight trains and began their journey to Ottawa. As the trek progressed, public support for the trekkers increased.
The federal government became increasingly uneasy as the trek progressed. The government particularly feared the influence of communist organizers among the trekkers. On June 14, 1935, R. B. Bennett order the R.C.M.P. to stop the trek in Regina. Bennett claimed that the marchers were defying the law and were part of a plot to overthrow the government of Canada. Only the trek leaders were allowed to continue to Ottawa where they held meetings with the Prime Minister.
Talks between Bennett and the strike leaders failed. The strike leaders returned to Regina where upwards of 3000 trekkers were gathered. The R.C.M.P. and Regina Police attempted to break up a public meeting of trekkers on July 1. A riot broke out. One police officer was killed and many trekkers and police officers were injured.
The government provided two trains to take all the original trekkers back to Vancouver. Conditions in the relief camps did change after the Trek. The Department of National Defence turned over control of the camps to the provinces. The provinces viewed the camps as public works camps rather than relief camps and paid the men 40 cents an hour for their labour.
The Six Demands of the Ottawa Trekkers
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Ideology, Government and the Social Disaster
Prior to the Great Depression, the ideological tenets of classical liberalism significantly defined the role of government in securing the well-being of the individual citizen. Canadian governments did not greatly involve themselves in social services. There was a widespread belief that people were largely responsible for their own well-being. Such social programs Canadians now enjoy such as unemployment insurance, hospitalization, medical care, and family allowances, did not exist. Private agencies, relatives and the churches were expected to meet the needs of those in poverty.
When the New York Stock Exchange crashed in October of 1929, few expected the Depression to last long. However, as the recession deepened, and levels of unemployment and poverty increased, the province, increasingly called upon the federal government to provide funds to meet the social needs of those unemployed and destitute. Prime Minister King viewed unemployment and social relief as being a provincial responsibility and therefore, the provinces would have to raise their own taxes to meet their provincial needs.
The Bennett Conservative government, which assumed office in 1930, was also reluctant to provide substantial aid to the provinces and to the thousands of unemployed. Bennett believed that people should help themselves and did not believe that unemployment was a major problem. By 1933, one third of all Canadian workers were out of a job.
The nation was ill-prepared to cope with the mass unemployment and its effects. When the Depression began, there was no unemployment insurance. Public relief varied from province to province. In Ontario and the western provinces, there was no coherent system for dealing with the rising unemployment and poverty. By the winter of 1933, more than 1 400 000 urban Canadians were receiving direct relief in the form of food, fuel, shelter and clothing.
The government believed that the aid to the unemployed and destitute should be a short-term exercise. Relief payments were purposely kept lower than the lowest-paying job to discourage people from applying for relief. In 1932, it took $7 a week to feed a family of five in Ontario. However, the weekly food allowance was $6.93 in Toronto. The food allowance was $3.25 in Quebec.
In Newfoundland, the food allowance was 6 cents a day per person for each family member. The independent dominion was heavily in debt. In order to receive British assistance, Newfoundland gave up self-government and allowed itself to be governed by a British-appointed commission.
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The Depression and Incomes
Average Income Decline 1928 - 1933
| 1928-29 $ Per Person | 1933 $ Per Person | Percentage Decrease | |
| Saskatchewan | 478 | 135 | 72 |
| Alberta | 548 | 212 | 61 |
| Manitoba | 466 | 240 | 49 |
| British Columbia | 594 | 314 | 47 |
| Prince Edward Island | 278 | 154 | 45 |
| Ontario | 549 | 310 | 44 |
| Quebec | 391 | 220 | 44 |
| New Brunswick | 292 | 180 | 39 |
| Nova Scotia | 322 | 207 | 36 |
| Canada | 471 | 247 | 48 |
National Unemployment Levels
| National Average | Percentage |
| 1927 | 2.9% |
| 1928 | 2.6% |
| 1929 | 4.2% |
| 1930 | 12.9% |
| 1933 | 26.6% |
| 1934 | 20.6% |
| 1935 | 19.1% |
| 1936 | 16.7% |
| 1937 | 12.5% |
| 1938 | 15.1% |
| 1939 | 14.1% |
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Gross National Product, 1926-1939
Gross National Product represents the total dollar value of all the goods and services produced by a country in a year.
| Year | Gross National |
| 1926 | 5.1 |
| 1927 | 5.6 |
| 1928 | 6.1 |
| 1929 | 6.1 |
| 1930 | 5.7 |
| 1931 | 4.7 |
| 1932 | 3.8 |
| 1933 | 3.5 |
| 1934 | 4.0 |
| 1935 | 4.3 |
| 1936 | 4.6 |
| 1937 | 5.2 |
| 1938 | 5.3 |
| 1939 | 5.6 |
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Depression on the Prairies
Wheat was "king" on the prairies. Wheat represented the majority of grains exported to other countries. With the collapse of the world wheat market, the prairie economy was devastated. The disaster was compounded by droughts, and plagues of grasshoppers that destroyed those crops that survived the drought. The net money income from farming on the prairies fell. The net money income from farming in 1932-33 was only 1.5% of what it had been in 1928-29. Total income in the province was little more than a quarter in 1933 of what it had been five years earlier.
Saskatchewan Wheat Production and Value of Crop
| Year | Acres | Yield | Production | $ Value of Wheat Sold |
| 1928 | 13 791 000 | 23.2 | 321 215 000 | $218 000 000 |
| 1929 | 14 455 000 | 11.1 | 160 565 000 | 134 932 000 |
| 1930 | 14 714 000 | 14.0 | 206 700 000 | 72 293 000 |
| 1931 | 15 026 000 | 8.8 | 132 466 000 | 44 407 000 |
| 1932 | 15 543 000 | 13.6 | 211 551 000 | 56 889 000 |
| 1933 | 14 743 000 | 8.7 | 128 004 000 | 52 301 000 |
| 1934 | 13 262 000 | 8.6 | 114 200 000 | 57 950 000 |
| 1935 | 13 206 000 | 10.8 | 142 198 000 | 68 400 000 |
| 1936 | 14 596 000 | 8.0 | 110 000 000 | 81 000 000 |
| 1937 | 13 893 000 | 2.7 | 37 000 000 | 16 000 000 |
In 1928, the average Saskatchewan farmer had a net income of $1 614. Families could afford to buy the essentials of life, and possible retain some savings. However, by 1933, the average farmer earned only $66.
This information is to accompany Regina Riot of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Depression in the Maritimes and Central Canada
The Maritimes economy was greatly dependent on the export of fish, lumber products and coal. With the decline in the export trade, the region's economy suffered.
Values of Fish Sold in the Maritimes
| 1926 | $19 823 557 |
| 1927 | 17 280 216 |
| 1928 | 18 524 697 |
| 1929 | 19 334 431 |
| 1930 | 17 026 070 |
| 1931 | 13 680 034 |
| 1932 | 10 914 306 |
| 1933 | 10 266 474 |
Central Canada
Quebec and Ontario differed from other regions of the nation. Their region had a diversified economy with both large agricultural and industrial sectors. The economic diversity somewhat reduced the full impact of the Depression. The regions that were dependent upon a more limited range of economic activities, such as farming on the prairies, suffered greatly. The farmers of Central Canada tended to grow a variety of crops and thereby provide many of their own food requirements and the needs of the local communities. The industries of Central Canada were somewhat protected by the system of tariffs and had a domestic market in which to sell their products.
This information is to accompany Extremism of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The C.C.F. and the Ideological Challenge from the Left
As the Depression of the 1930s continued, it became evident that the policies that emphasized a limited role for government in regulating/directing the market place, were not addressing the economic and social crises.
A number of regions and populations felt that the response of government to the social and economic upheavals that accompanied the Depression had been inadequate. Various movements were to articulate different political-economic visions concerning the role of government, wealth creation and wealth distribution. Neither the extreme left or right were able to galvanize large segments of the Canadian public during the Depression. They were however, both quite active.
There emerged, during the 1930s, political movements that were not extremist and were able to attract sizable followings. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Social Credit, and the Union Nationale, were all formed in the 1930s. Both the C.C.F. and Social Credit competed at the federal level. Although they were not able to attract nation-wide support, they were able to influence national decision makers and the agendas of national governments. Both parties were more successful at the provincial level in Western Canada.
The Democratic Socialist Option: The C.C.F. and the Regina Manifesto
In 1932, representatives of several western labour parties and farm groups met in Calgary to form an united socialist political party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
The Social Democratic tenets of the C.C.F. clearly differentiated it from the communist movement.
The program for the new party, the Regina Manifesto, reflected the concerns of the farm and labour elements within the C.C.F.
The C.C.F. program was based on a number of premises:
In 1944, the C.C.F. became the government in Saskatchewan. T. C. Douglas became leader of the first socialist government in North America.
This information is to accompany Extremism of Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The C.C.F. and the Regina Manifesto
The following are excerpts from the Regina Manifesto, the program of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, adopted at First National Convention held at Regina, Sask., July, 1933.
The C.C.F. is a federation of organizations whose purpose is the establishment in Canada of a Co-operative Commonwealth in which the principle regulating production, distribution and exchange will be the supplying of human needs and not the making of profits.
We aim to replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated, in which economic planning will supersede unregulated private enterprise and competition, and in which genuine democratic self-government based upon economic equality will be possible.
The new social order at which we aim is not one in which individuality will be crushed out by a system of regimentation. Nor shall we interfere with cultural rights of racial or religious minorities. What we seek is a proper collective organization of our economic resources such as will make possible a much greater degree of leisure and a much richer individual life for every citizen.
Specific Sections of the Program
The establishment of a planned, socialized economic order, in order to make possible the most efficient development of the national resources and the most equitable distribution of the national income.
The first step in this direction will be the setting up of a National Planning Commission. The task of the Commission will be to plan for the production, distribution and exchange of all goods and services necessary to the efficient functioning of the economy; to coordinate the activities of the socialized industries; to provide for a satisfactory balance between the producing and consuming power.
Socialization of all financial machinery - banking, currency, credit and insurance, to make possible the effective control of currency, credit and prices, and the supplying of new productive equipment for socially desirable purposes.
Control of finance is the first step in the control of the whole economy. The chartered banks must be socialized and removed from the control of private profit-seeking interests. Insurance Companies, which provide one of the main channels for the investment of individual savings and which, under their present competitive organization, charge needlessly high premiums for the social services that they render, must also be socialized.
Socialization (Dominion, Provincial or Municipal) of transportation, communications, electric power and all other industries and services essential to social planning.
Public utilities must be operated for the public benefit and not for the private profit of a small group of owners or financial manipulators. Our natural resources must be developed by the same methods. Transportation, communications and electric power must come first in a list of industries to be socialized.
Security of tenure for the farmer upon his farm on conditions to be laid down by individual provinces; insurance against unavoidable crop failure; removal of the tariff burden from the operations of agriculture; encouragement of producers' and consumers' co-operatives; the restoration and maintenance of an equitable relationship between prices of agricultural products and those of other commodities and services; and improving the efficiency of export trade in farm products.
The security of tenure for the farmer upon his farm which is imperilled by the present disastrous situation of the whole industry, together with adequate social insurance, ought to be guaranteed under equitable conditions. The prosperity of agriculture, the greatest Canadian industry, depends upon a rising volume of purchasing power of the masses in Canada for all farm goods consumed at home, and upon the maintenance of large scale exports of the stable commodities at satisfactory prices or equitable commodity exchange.
We propose therefore:
The encouragement by the public authority of both producers' and consumers' co-operative institutions.
In agriculture, as already mentioned, the primary producer can receive a larger net revenue through co-operative organization of purchases and marketing. Similarly in retail distribution of staple commodities such as milk, there is room for development both of public municipal operation and of consumers' co-operatives, and such co-operative organization can be extended into wholesale distribution and into manufacturing.
A National Labour Code to secure for the worker maximum income and leisure, insurance covering illness, accident, old age, and unemployment, freedom of association and effective participation in the management of his industry or profession.
The community must organize its resources to effect progressive reduction of the hours of work in accordance with technological development and to provide a constantly rising standard of life to everyone who is willing to work. A labour code must be developed which will include state regulation of wages, equal reward and equal opportunity of advancement for equal services, irrespective of sex; measures to guarantee the right to work or the right to maintenance through stabilization of employment and through employment insurance; social insurance to protect workers and their families against the hazards of sickness, death, industrial accident and old age; limitation of hours of work and protection of health and safety in industry. Both wages and insurance benefits should be varied in accordance with family needs. In addition workers must be guaranteed the undisputed right to freedom of association, and should be encouraged and assisted by the state to organize themselves in trade unions. The labour code should be uniform throughout the country.
Publicly organized health, hospital and medical services.
The maintenance of a health population has become a function for which every civilized community should undertake responsibility. A properly organized system of public health services including medical and dental care, which would stress the prevention rather than the cure of illness should be extended to all our people in both rural and urban areas.
The amendment of the Canadian Constitution, so as to give the Dominion Government adequate powers to deal effectively with urgent economic problems which are essentially national in scope.
The Canadian Senate, which was originally created to protect provincial rights, but has failed even in this function, has developed into a bulwark of capitalist interests, as is illustrated by the large number of company directorships held by its aged members. Appointed for life, it is one of the most reactionary assemblies. It is a standing obstacle to all progressive legislation, and the only permanently satisfactory method of dealing with the constitutional difficulties it creates is to abolish it.
A Foreign Policy designed to obtain international economic cooperation and to promote disarmament and world peace.
We stand resolutely against all participation in imperialist wards. Within the British Commonwealth, Canada must maintain her autonomy as a completely self-governing nation. We must resist all attempts to build up a new economic British Empire in place of the old political one. Canada must refuse to be entangled in any more wars fought to make the world safe for capitalism.
A new taxation policy designed not only to raise public revenues but also to lessen the glaring inequalities of income and to provide funds for social services and the socialization of industry.
We propose a drastic extension of income, corporation and inheritance taxes, steps graduated according to ability to pay.
Freedom of speech and assembly for all: repeal of Section 98 the Criminal Code; amendment of the Immigration Act to prevent the present inhuman policy of deportation; equal treatment before the law of all residents of Canada irrespective of race, nationality, religious or political beliefs.
The most elementary rights of freedom of speech assembly have been arbitrarily denied to workers and too all whole political and social views do not meet with the approval of those in power. Section 98 of the Criminal Code which has been used as a weapon of political oppression by a panic-stricken capitalist government, must be wiped off the statute book and those who have been imprisoned under it must be released. An end must be put to the inhuman practice of deporting immigrants who were brought to the country by immigration propaganda.
This activity is to accompany Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Dialectical Evaluation, Criteria, Government, Rights, Responsibility, Ideology, Decision Making, and Consequences.
This activity provides an opportunity for students to enhance their skills surrounding dialectical evaluation. Students will focus on the issue of the relationship between government and the well-being of the individual citizen and general citizenry.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Review some of the contemporary debates within Canadian society that relate to the role and responsibilities of government.
Discuss the fiscal and economic conditions that Canadian governments have faced since the early 1980s.
Note that at different times during the nation's history, the assumptions concerning the role of government have changed.
Following the Second World War, governments had the stated goal of reducing economic and social inequalities. Governments initiated a series of programs designed to equalize education and employment opportunities; the availability of "essential" services such as health care; and income support such as old age pensions.
Discuss how the economic and social conditions experienced by Canadians during the Depression of the 1930s changed the attitudes of many Canadians regarding government and well-being of the citizenry.
Identify the assumptions and practices concerning government that arose from the experiences of Depression.
Provide the students with the Student Information Sheets: A Case for Activist Government, and A History of Activist Government and the Social Safety Net. The S.I.S's will provide a the students with a number of assumptions that support an activist role for government.
Present the class with a number of questions that identify the "beliefs" that support an activist government. Some questions could include:
Note that during the last decades, the opponents of activist government have achieved electorial success throughout Western Europe and North America. Such political parties have been labelled "neo-conservative".
Provide the students with the Student Information Sheets: The Merits of the Market-based Economy, and The Rise of Neoconservatism and the Triumph of the Marketplace.
Present the class with a number of questions that identify the "beliefs" that support the neo-conservative ideology. Some questions could include:
Discuss the major tenets of neo-conservatism and the actions of governments that share its economic and political beliefs. Note the movement towards privatization, actions to reduce government deficits, and reduction in benefits in various social programs.
Step Two
Inform students that they will be engaged in a dialectic focusing on the role of government, the marketplace and their relationship to the well-being of Canadians.
Provide the students with the Student Information Sheet: Dialectical Evaluation Model, and the Student Worksheet: Dialectical Evaluation Model. The students can use the models as a guide for their dialectical evaluation.
For the purpose of comparison, the class should construct a set of questions/issues that each viewpoint has to address.
Possible key questions/issues could include:
The criteria could include:
Note that one way of testing the value judgments is to investigate the possible consequences of having that judgment (viewpoint) accepted and practices by the society.
Provide the students with the Student Information Sheet: The Concept of Moral Testing, which provides an explanation and description of the following "consequence" tests: new cases test, the role exchange test, and the universal consequences test.
The students could apply one or several of those tests and/or other tests, to evaluate the value judgements.
Have the class discuss the possible consequences of accepting one or the other value judgements.
Possible conclusions to the dialectical evaluation of the viewpoints (value claims) could be:
This information is to accompany Activity Seven of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: A Case for Activist Government
There are many Canadians who advocate an activist role for government in securing the citizenry's well-being. Advocates of that perspective suggest that the marketplace, if not somewhat regulated, will produce some socially "unacceptable" outcomes including "unacceptable" distribution of wealth, opportunities, including employment and educational opportunities, products and services. It is therefore necessary for government to intervene in the workings of the marketplace to ensure that all citizens can enjoy an "acceptable" level of outcomes.
Advocates of activist government often point out the glaring social and economic inequalities that characterized Canadian society prior to the development of the social safety net in the decades following the Second World War. They maintain that government has a "moral" responsibility to reduce social and economic inequalities. One strategy is to ensure that all Canadians have access to a certain level of essential services. Only the government can ensure such an "equality" of services and opportunities. The market does not have such a goal of equality. Proponents often contrast the Canadian system of delivery of medical services to the citizenry with the present system in the United States. They point out that the government-funded medical system ensures that all Canadians have access to needed medical services, while the privately-operated American system of health care has left nearly forty million Americans without health insurance.
Government has to play a critical role in securing the well-being of the individual. They see society as being more that a collection of individuals pursuing their own individual goals. Members of a society have a responsibility towards securing the well-being of all members of the society. They see the well-being of the individual and of the collective society as being interconnected. The well-being of the individual can "best" be achieved in a society that allows all members to secure an acceptable standard of living. They feel that it is wrong to have a society in which a minority enjoys the benefits of the marketplace, while the many, do not. All members of society are entitled to a certain level of services and opportunities that are essential to the well-being of the individual member, including health services and educational opportunities.
Proponents of activist government operate on a number of assumptions:
John Maynard Keynes suggested that one of the major factors in causing
economic recessions is a decline in the purchasing power of consumers. If
consumers have no income, they cannot buy the factory's products. With few
sales, the factory will close and the workers will lose their jobs. Higher
unemployment will further reduce the purchasing power of consumers, and
more factories will close.
Therefore, government can play a role in lessening the impact of those periods
of economic recession. Government initiatives such as employment programs,
subsidies to businesses, and income supplements, can sustain the purchasing
power of the consumers and thereby sustain demand for the factory's products.
Governments should be prepared to run deficits during such times of economic
distress. During periods of economic prosperity, government revenues will
increase, and the increase government income can be used to "pay down"
those deficits.
This information is to accompany Activity Seven of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The Merits of a Market-based Economy and Individual and Collective Well-being
Within Canadian society there has been an on-going debate as to the role of government in securing the well-being of the individual citizen and the collective citizenry. Two broad perspectives concerning that relationship have emerged.
One of the perspectives maintains that capitalism, the unfettered workings of the marketplace, has given Canadians a standard of living that ranks among the highest in the world. Advocates of this perspective maintain that it is the marketplace and the initiatives of the private sector, not government, that has produced unprecedented wealth for Canadians. Canada's success has been based on initiative effort and enterprise. They point out that the great majority of new jobs created are created by the private sector.
Advocates of the marketplace perspective belief that the well-being of society is connected to the well-being of the individual. Society is best served when it provides opportunity for the individual citizen to use his/her talents and initiative, to "better" themselves. The well-being of society is dependent on the well-being of the individual. Individual success will produce "benefits" that benefit the society. For example, a person, through individual effort and vision, establishes a successful business, will produce benefits for the entire society in the forms of employment opportunities for others, and in the payment of taxes that support social programs.
Society should provide incentives for the individual to maximize his/her talents, and not penalize individual initiative. People should be rewarded for their efforts. Sustained economic prosperity cannot be achieved it society (government) does not allow the individual to be reasonably rewarded for his/her individual initiative and effort.
In addressing the issue of equality of persons, proponents of the marketplace often suggest that a society will always be composed of individuals who are not equal. People vary greatly in talent, abilities, and personal drive. There will be those who possess the attributes necessary to improve their condition, while there will be others, who lack such a vision or "will" to improve their condition. Society can best help people by providing opportunities for each citizen to "better" himself/herself.
There will always be those who, through circumstances, are not able to compete in the marketplace. Society has a responsibility to ensure that those persons have access to an acceptable level of services, opportunities and rights, enjoyed by all citizens. However, those levels should not be set at a level that acts as a disincentive for individuals to take individual action to better themselves. Some have argued that social assistance programs such as unemployment and welfare, provide benefits that are "too" generous. Therefore, some people do not have an incentive to seek employment or the skills necessary to obtain a higher standard of living.
Some proponents of the marketplace belief that governments have "involved" themselves in areas that should be the prerogative and responsibility of the individual. They believe that the individual can citizen, given the opportunity, is the best person to make the critical decisions that affect their individual life. For example, the individual citizen should not be "forced" to be "enrolled" in government-run programs such as auto insurance. The individual should have the option to chose a private auto insurance company. Insurance companies, forced to compete in the marketplace against other insurance companies, will be forced to provide the customer with the "quality" services at competitive prices. The individual should have the option to select private medical services and clinics, outside state-run medical care programs, if they so chose. Government has no right to "force" citizens into such government-operated programs.
Advocates would suggest that sometimes governments construct undue obstacles that impede the efforts and initiative of individuals to better themselves and to better society. They would suggest that high levels of government regulation and taxation of profits make it more difficult for private enterprises to be competitive in the marketplace, to improve productivity, and to increase employment opportunities for all.
Excessive government regulations, such as labour legislation that requires employers to provide a wide-range of benefits for their workers, increase the costs of production. Canadian products then become "too" expensive to sell on the world market. If Canadian business cannot sell its products on the world marketplace, those Canadian workers, will soon have no jobs.
The level of government taxation also affects the cost of production. Many in the business sector have claimed that Canadian businesses are subjected to a level of taxation that is substantially higher than the taxes other governments place on the businesses in their countries. Again, high taxes makes Canadian products more expensive to sell in the world marketplace.
Marketplace proponents claim that government-operated programs and services are inefficient, in terms of productivity and results. They suggest that the social safety net and its extensive array of programs, have not resulted in the solving of such social ills as child poverty and regional disparity. They also suggest that since government programs and crown corporations most often enjoy a monopoly, i.e., they face no competitors, there exists no forces that promote cost and productive efficiency. The lack of the profit motive means there exists little incentive for government agencies and employees, to maximize productivity. Some existing government programs and agencies, such as government operated services, could be better handled by private enterprise. By privatizing government services and crown corporations, private enterprises, through the forces of competition, will deliver services and products, at the "best" price for the consumer. The consumer is able to chose the enterprise that provides the best services.
By reducing the activities and responsibilities of government by allowing the private sector to assume those roles, the costs of government should be reduced. Governments also have to address the issue of the level of government debt. Government has to operate on the principles of sound business economics. It cannot spend more than it receives. Rising deficits have resulted in increased levels of taxation. Taxes deprive both the individual and business of needed capital. Government debts are the result of the expansion of government activities, the extensive array of government social programs. A reduction in government's role and government programs, and tax relief for both the private sector and individual citizen, would help reduce the government "debt crises."
By dealing with the debt, undertaking privatization, and reducing the role of government, levels of taxation could be reduced. Both the individual citizen and business would have additional capital to spend. Lower taxes would result in business expansion, and more purchasing power for the consumer. Increased consumer demand will result in the need to increase production. Lower taxes provides business with the needed capital to expand production. Increased production will result in increasing employment opportunities. More employment opportunities will reduce unemployment and the costs of other social programs. An larger employment force will pay increase government revenues. Those government revenues can, in turn, further reduce the costs of government.
Most proponents of the marketplace do belief that government has a "constructive" role in securing the economic well-being of the nation. They recognize that government can provide a "climate" that promotes individual opportunity such as assisting businesses to expand, to undertake research and technological advances, and promote trade agreements on the international level. Governments have a critical role in ensuring that the nation's communication and transportation infrastructures of maintained. Governments have a critical role in ensuring that the citizens are well-educated a have the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in the marketplace. Governments have a role in ensuring that Canadian business does not have to endure "unfair" trade practices of both domestic and foreign competitors.
This information is to accompany Activity Seven of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The Rise of Neoconservatism and the Triumph of the Marketplace
A number of political parties, throughout Western Europe and in North America, often labelled "neo-conservatives," were to achieve political success in the 1980s. They were prepared to enact an agenda to translate their ideological beliefs into political action.
Their political success was, in part, related to changing international economic conditions. New international economic realities, emerged during the 1970s, were to lead to a questioning of the economic and political tenets that had guided the Canadian nation following the Second World War. The economic preponderance of the western industrialized societies, was being challenged by Japan, Taiwan, Korea and other Pacific rim nations. The goods they produced were being sold on the international market. Those nations possessed a number of advantages in terms of production costs.
The neo-conservative political-economic paradigm challenged the concept of interventionist government and placed the blame for the West's economic woes largely on government and its past practices. It found a ready audience throughout the Western Europe and North America.
Tenets of the neo-conservative paradigm address both economic activity and role of government.
The world was increasingly becoming one large marketplace. Therefore, economic prosperity would best be achieved through global free trade. That would necessitate the elimination of trade barriers between nations. A global marketplace would allow resources, goods, services, and capital to move freely operate without national restrictions. All nations and enterprises, such as multinational corporations, should have access to world's resources and markets.
Throughout the Western world, the "new" mercantilism was championed by political parties labelled "neo-conservative." In 1979, Britain's Margaret Thatcher launched her government on an extensive program of privatization and the "reduction" of government activities. The Reagan Administration, in the U.S., was also dedicated to privatization and de-regulation of the economy. Both governments championed the cause of international trade liberalization.
The Canadian political scene did not remain impervious to the political rise of neo-conservatism. Within Canada, the drive towards a market-driven approach first emerged in Western Canada during the 1970s. The continued role as the economic hinterland to Central Canada, and the imposition of federal policies that appeared to favour Central Canada, fuelled Western resentment towards both Central Canada and the federal government. Western premiers called for a decentralization of the federal government direction of the national economy, and greater economic integration with the United States. The federal Progressive Conservatives embraced the vision of the western premiers.
The New Mercantilism: The Mulroney Era and "Limits" on Government
In 1984, the Progressive Conservatives, led by Brain Mulroney, were elected. They governed the nation for the next decade.
Government controls hamper and restrict the private sector.
The public sector (government) had to be downsized because it had become too large and was crowding out the private sector.
The private sector can more effectively operate tasks presently done by government.
The Mulroney Government did not severely reduce the accumulated national debt nor the annual deficit.
This activity is to accompany Isolationism of the Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Development Lesson for: Deterrence, Domestic Forces, Foreign Policy, Appeasement, and Consequences.
This activity focuses on the connection between foreign policy and domestic considerations. The historical focus is on Canadian foreign policy during the 1930s and the rationale for the policy of appeasement. Students have the opportunity to assume the role of foreign policy makers and will investigate how domestic considerations influence Canadian foreign policy.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Discuss with students the response of nations whose fundamental values are democratic, based on the rule of law, and who seek to maintain a peaceful foreign policy in the face of an aggressive foreign policy by another nation.
Issues that could be discussed include:
Discuss why the policy of appeasement was pursued by many nations in Europe and supported by the many people in Europe.
Note that there was not "universal" support for the policy of appeasement in the western democracies, including Canada.
Step Two
Have student groups assume roles as Canadian proponents or opponents to the policy of appeasement.
Step Three
Discuss the issues surrounding responding to aggression, at the international level, in today's world. The following questions could facilitate the discussion:
Discuss Canada's role in the international world. How "best" can Canada contribute to the peaceful resolution of international disputes?
This activity is to accompany Second World War of the Unit Three Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Development Activity for: Imperialism, Nationalism, Continentalism, Foreign Policy, Decision Making, and Consequences.
This activity allows students an opportunity to identify and apply the concepts of nationalism, imperialism, and continentalism, to the early decades of the twentieth century. The activity will also allow students to apply those concepts to contemporary Canadian events and issues.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Have students discuss the following concepts and identify attributes for each of the concepts.
Nationalism: Know that nationalism is loyalty and devotion to one's country.
Imperialism: Know that imperialism involves the advocating or practice of extending the power and dominion of one nation beyond that nation's borders.
Continentalism: Know that advocates of continentalism believe that the well-being of the Canadian nation is dependent upon a close and interconnected relationship with the United States.
Have the students discuss the Canadian context for each of the concepts.
Have the class identify how these concepts have influenced events in recent decades at both the international and domestic levels.
Review the major events and policies that influenced the evolution of the Canadian nation from Confederation to the end of the Second World War.
Some student groups could prepare a timeline of the major domestic events during the above period.
The timelines presented in this activity guide may assist the students in preparing their timelines.
Have the students present their findings to the class. The class can discuss how policies were influenced by both domestic and external events.
One of the major events/issues of that time period was Canada's involvement in World War One.
Assign student groups the task of responding to that issue from the perspective of proponents of nationalism, imperialism, and continentalism.
Each group should indicate what effect the war had on support for their international paradigms within Canada.
Each group could present their findings to the class for discussion.
This information is to accompany Equality of Opportunity and Social Contract of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Reform Liberalism, and John Maynard Keynes
Advocates of government "activism" could call upon the Canadian experience as "proof" that the development of the nation was in part the result of government involvement in setting and fulfilling the nation's economic and social agendas. For example, the federal government of Sir John A. Macdonald had been a driving force in promoting and "financing" the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Prior the Depression of the 1930s, governments did not greatly intervene in the lives of citizens or the market place. The tenets of classical liberalism guided the actions of national decision makers.
When governments did intervene it was generally intervention that benefited particular segments of society.
The Depression of the 1930s was to fundamentally change how government was viewed. Many felt that the social and economic catastrophes that accompanied the Depression had been made more severe because of the unwillingness of government to actively intervene.
Government policy makers were being influenced by the tenets of reform liberalism and the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes.
Reform Liberalism: The Citizen and the "Benevolent" State
While both classical and reform liberalism stressed the primacy of the individual, reform liberalism was to depart from certain classical liberal tenets.
Reform liberals viewed government as a potential instrument that could create a "climate" that enhanced opportunities for individuals to maximize their potentials.
Reform liberalism did not share classical liberalism's faith in the marketplace to ensure the well-being of the society.
While reform liberalism provided an ideological rationalization for government intervention, the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes provided an "economic recipe" on when and how government should intervene.
Keynes and Government Intervention: Managing the Economy
Keynes maintained that the severity and length of the Depression was in part the result of involuntary unemployment and underspending.
During economic downturns, it was necessary for government to initiate interventionist social, economic, and fiscal policies. It was necessary to sustain the demand for products and services.
Some adherents to Keynes embraced the proposition that redistributive measures such as social security, and income supplements such as unemployment insurance, were effective safeguards because they gave workers the money to buy goods even during economic downturns.
This activity is intended to accompany St. Laurence Seaway of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide.
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Ideology, Classical Liberalism, Reform Liberalism, Democratic Socialism, Decision Making, Responsibilities, and Consequences.
This activity allows students to discuss how the ideologies of classical liberalism, reform liberalism, and democratic socialism, address the issue of societal responsibility for the well-being of the individual citizen. Students also have the opportunity to apply the ideological "prescriptions" to contemporary issues facing Canadians.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Objectives:
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Discuss with the class some of the major social conditions that were experienced by Canadians during the Depression.
Working as a class, construct a concept map that illustrates how the concepts of demand, production, employment, and markets are interconnected.
Discuss factors that can disrupt the economic cycle that can produce prosperity.
Note that the actions of other nations and of Canadians can influence the well-being of Canadians.
Step Two
Have student groups assume the role of proponents of the following ideologies: democratic socialism, reform liberalism, and classical liberalism.
Raise a number of issues/questions that focus a discussion on the responsibility of government and the marketplace, in securing the well-being of the individual.
Each group should respond to the issues/questions from the perspective of the ideology they represent.
Step Three
Have the class discuss the societal paradigms and assumptions that surrounded the "role" of government and the well-being of the citizenry, as enunciated by proponents of classical liberalism reform liberalism, and democratic socialism.
Have groups assume the role of proponents of particular ideologies, classical liberalism, reform liberalism and democratic socialism.
Step Four
Discuss with the students how a person's ideological perspective will influence how they perceive a particular issue or challenge and how they respond to that issue.
Have student identify other contemporary social and economic issues facing Canadians.
Alternative activity:
Have the students identify which conditions arising from the Depression could national/provincial governments attempt to respond to be enacting policies and actions.
Have students identify the "limitations" on national/provincial governments in coping with Depression-like conditions, as occurred in the 1930s.
Have the students prepared a short essay that identifies and explains which ideology would have best responded to the conditions created by the Depression of the 1930s.
This information is to accompany Activity Ten of the Unit Three History 30 Activity Guide
Student Information Sheet: Ideological Perspectives: The Case of Unemployment
Classical Liberal Analysis of the Issue of Unemployment and Response to that Issue
Classical Liberal response could include the following reasoning:
Classical Liberal Solutions:
Reform Liberal Analysis of the Issue of Unemployment and Response to that Issue
Reform Liberal analysis could include the following reasoning:
Reform Liberal solutions:
Democratic Socialist Analysis of the Issue of Unemployment and Response to that Issue
Democratic Socialist response could include the following reasoning:
Democratic Socialist solutions:
This information is to accompany Constitution of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: The Battle for Universal Medical Care
The entry of government into areas previously the domain of the market place was not always welcomed. The introduction of state-runned medical care insurance, that would ensure medical services to all citizens, was resisted by many within the medical profession and the private sector.
Saskatchewan was the first province in Canada, to introduce a hospital insurance plan for all its citizens in 1946.
In the 1960 provincial election the governing C.C.F. committed itself to the implementing of a medical care plan to cover all Saskatchewan citizens. The medicare issue dominated that election.
The medical profession's opposition was based on a number of claims:
The C.C.F won the election with an increased majority.
The doctors countered the government plan by proposing that the market place, and not the state, would administer health insurance.
If the government would not accept their plan, the Medical Association indicated that the province's doctors would go on strike. The doctors did promise to provide services for dire emergencies.
The opposition to medicare coalesced around the "Keep Our Doctors" Committee.
The government brought 110 doctors from Britain to work during July 1962. The Acting Chairman of the K.O.D. accused the doctors from Britain of being communists and lacking adequate medical training.
Lord Taylor, a member of the British House of Lords, was brought in to negotiate a settlement between the government and doctors. A settlement was reached on July 23.
The expansion of universal medical care to all Canadians was to be accomplished in less than a decade from its Saskatchewan introduction.
In 1963, Prime Minister Pearson had promised to introduce medicare within four years.
The establishment of national medicare was the result of a confluence of influences:
In July 1965, Pearson announced that the federal government would contribute funds to any provincial scheme that was "universal and portable."
This information is to accompany Community Clinic Co-operatives of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Student Information Sheet: Community Clinics: A Response to the Medical Care Crisis
Two black telephones sitting in a bare room of the third floor of Saskatoon’s old Avenue building was hardly an auspicious beginning for two doctors and a small group of citizens to pioneer the community clinic on that warm, gusty morning of July, 1962. Armed with only their medical bags, doctors Joan Witney-Moore and Margaret Mahood settled into "a new venture in health care". Executive members of the fledgling Community Health Services Association (CHSA) went scavenging for equipment. They found folding tables at the Union Centre and hauled them back. Covered with mattresses, they became examining tables. The doctors were busy until midnight.
Events in 1962 precipitating the opening of the community clinics had provoked deep and emotional rifts in Saskatchewan, grabbed headlines and filled newspaper columns throughout North America."
From The First Ten Years' by Dennis Gruending
The Strike
On July 1, 1962, a majority of Saskatchewan's 725 practicing physicians went on strike opposing the government's introduction of the first universal, tax-financed, medical care insurance plan in North America. With the exception of staffing emergency stations, provincial doctors were on strike for 23 days, as advised by the province's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Community Clinics: A Response to the Strike
In January of that year, a small group of doctors and consumers, sympathetic to the government’s medical care plan, began to respond to the anticipated resistance of doctors by meeting to discuss the idea of establishing a medical clinic in Saskatoon. As supporters of the government’s plan, they believed medical care was each citizen's right, not a privilege of the affluent.
The frequency and tempo of the group's preparatory meetings quickened in June when a doctors’ strike became imminent. A small gathering on June 24th led to the calling of a public meeting Wednesday, June 27th to plan for the emergency. The fifty persons attending the June 27th meeting established plans for a new group-practice, medical co-operative operating under medical care insurance legislation. It was understood that, by forming a medical co-operative, its member-users would assume a degree of ownership in and responsibility for the planning of the delivery of health care along with the physicians. In keeping with the democratic control structure of co-operatives, a five-member provisional board of directors was elected. The board's first task was to arrange finances, staffing and housing for the Community Health Services Association.
On July 3rd, Dr. Joan Witney-Moore and Dr. Margaret Mahood became the first doctors to work in the clinic. Dr. Samuel Wolfe, professor of social and preventive medicine at the University of Saskatchewan made himself available for house calls and consultation. In order to ensure the clinic’s survival, however, members of the government's medical care commission had recruited some doctors from Great Britain. The clinic was in business, providing medical services under its founders' philosophy of consumer participation, group practice, and salaried (versus fee-for-service) physicians.
Few Saskatchewan physicians during the strike openly defied the College by supporting the concept of public medical care insurance. Fewer still came forward to lead the community clinic. However, several doctors in Saskatoon made themselves available to the clinic for emergencies, house calls and consultation during the strike.
While the Saskatoon clinic was being established, members of the Association began what was to become their continuing role of providing facilities and funds. A credit union loan, which purchased medical and office equipment, was floated by two board members.
Creation of the Saskatoon clinic in July 1962 coincided with a larger provincial movement. With the impending medical crisis from a doctor's strike, thousands of Saskatchewan families rallied in support of the community clinic idea. Saskatoon's organizational meeting came with a health consumers' association already working in Prince Albert, and others in the process of formation. By mid-July, a three-member provincial executive had been named and local organizations where channelling funds to the provincial body.
At its peak, the provincial association, called The Community Health Services (Saskatchewan) Association, represented 25 health care co-operatives. But, with the end of the strike, both the association and individual clinics experienced hard times. Resumption of medical care in late July 1962 led to a waning popular interest in consumer facilities. The restrictive terms of the Saskatoon agreement ending the strike, opposition of the medical profession, and marginal support from the government led to the closure of the provincial office in 1966. However, the Community Health Associations maintained a desire for some sort of unity. In 1970, the remaining 10 organizations regrouped as the Community Health Co-operative Federation with representatives appointed from local clinics.
Primary Principles of Community Clinics
In keeping with their co-operative organizational structure, community clinics are community-owned member operated non-profit organizations. Democratic control, a fundamental principle of co-operatives, provides member users of community clinics with an opportunity to participate in and take responsibility for the health care available in their communities. As co-operatives, community clinics also hold the core values of self help, self responsibility, concern for the community, equity and equality.
As providers of primary health care, community clinics place a strong emphasis on :
It is also worth noting that co-operative, consumer sponsored community health centres, and similar such health care delivery models are generally found to be cost-effective relative to fee-for-service practice. A study conducted by Saskatchewan Health in 1983 found that the total cost of health services were 13 percent lower for the community clinic patients in Prince Albert and 17 percent lower for community clinic patients province-wide, when compared to their private practice counterparts.
Community clinics, or co-operative health centres as they are sometimes called, operate in Prince Albert, Regina, Saskatoon, Wynyard and Lloydminster, and provide service to 3 additional rural locations.
This activity is intended to accompany Medical Care Act (1966) of the Unit Three History 30 Curriculum Guide
Incorporating the C.E.L.s
Concept Application Lesson for: Citizenship, Government, Marketplace, Collective responsibility, Individual responsibility, and Rights.
This activity provides an opportunity to discuss the responsibilities of the individual and of the collective society, in securing the well-being of the individual citizen. Students are to discuss and identify what services and opportunities are critical to securing the well-being of the individual citizen, and who is responsible for securing those services and opportunities.
Knowledge Objectives
The student will:
Skills Development
The student will:
Values Issues
The student will:
Outline of the Activity
Step One
Discuss with the class the economic climate that made it possible for government to construct the social safety net during decades following the Second World War.
Provide the students with the Student Information Sheet: The Battle for Universal Medical Care.
Provide the students with an opportunity to discuss the information on the S.I.S. The following issues could stimulate a class discussion:
Step Two
Provide students with statistics that illustrate the general prosperity experienced by most Canadians during the 1950s and 1960s.
Note that within all societies, there exists a unequal distribution of wealth and prosperity. There are individuals and groups who, for a variety of reasons, do not fully share in the prosperity of the collective society.
Have student groups identify specific populations of Canadians who were not experiencing the prosperity that most Canadians enjoyed.
Have the students discuss the "causes" of the unequal distribution of wealth within the collective society.
Have student groups select a particular segment of the Canadian community who appear to have not experienced the level of opportunity and prosperity enjoyed by most Canadians.
The responsibilities of each group would include:
Each group will present their findings and suggestions to the class for a general discussion.
Following the presentation of all the group reports, the class could assume the role of political and national decision makers.
and/or