page_title: Canada in the World Wars and Interwar Years
section_title: The Great Depression
hierarchical_section_title: Canada in the World Wars and Interwar Years / The Great Depression
caption_attribution_description: English: (The Depression) The Single Men's Unemployed Association parading to Bathurst Street United Church. Toronto, CanadaFrançais&#160;: (La Dépression) Membres de la Single Men's Unemployed Association se dirigeant vers l'Église unie de la rue Bathurst. Toronto, Canada.
context_page_description: During the World Wars and Interwar Years Canada experienced economic gain, more freedom for women and new technological advancements.
context_section_description: Canada was hard hit by the worldwide Great Depression that began in 1929. Between 1929 and 1933, the gross national product dropped 40% (compared to 37% in the US). Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933. Many businesses closed, as corporate profits of $396 million in 1929 turned into losses of $98 million in 1933. Canadian exports shrank by 50% from 1929 to 1933. Construction all but stopped (down 82%, 1929–33), and wholesale prices dropped 30%. Wheat prices plunged from 78c per bushel (1928 crop) to 29c in 1932.
  Worst hit were areas dependent on primary industries such as farming, mining and logging, as prices fell and there were few alternative jobs. Most families had moderate losses and little hardship, though they too became pessimistic and their debts become heavier as prices fell. Some families saw most or all of their assets disappear, and suffered severely.
  While the decline started in the United States, it quickly spread to Canada.  The first industry affected was wheat farming, which saw a collapse in prices.  This impoverished the economies of the Prairie provinces, but as wheat was then Canada's largest export it also hurt the rest of the country. With the collapse of the construction industry, lumbering was even worse hit, as there were few alternative jobs in the lumbering region.  This was soon followed by a deep recession in manufacturing, first caused by a drop-off in demand in the United States, and then by Canadians also not buying more than bare essentials.  The auto industry that prospered so greatly in the 1920s was badly hit.  Construction came to a halt. People who lost jobs because of layoffs and closures had a very hard time finding a new ones—especially older men and teenagers. Unemployment rose to 25 per cent.
caption: The Single Men's Unemployed Association parading to Bathurst Street United Church in Toronto
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