WWII: The War at Home

Total War By 1942, Canada

was committed to a policy of “Total War”.

All industries, materials and people were put to work for the war effort.

Government and the Economy The war launched Canada out of the

depression and into an economic boom. C.D. Howe, minister of munitions and supply,

quickly organized Canada’s war economy, he assumed near dictatorial powers telling businessmen what they would produce including how much and how fast.

Canada became an industrial power, new factories were built, and old ones adapted for war purposes. Factories churned out thousands of guns, ships, fighter planes and military vehicles.

Canadian Production 1939-1945Aircraft 16 000

Rifles 900 000

Military Vehicles 815 000

Merchant Ships 410

Landing Craft 3 302

Navy Tugs 254

Tanks 6 500

Escort Ships 487

Machine Guns 244 000

Labour With so many men enlisting,

Canada faced a labour shortage as early as 1941, most notably in war-related industries.

In 1942, the Canadian government passed the National Selective Service Act to mobilize the country’s labour resources for the benefit of the war effort.

One of the main strategies of the program was to recruit women for the work force.

“Women, Back Them Up -To Bring Them Back!”

■ At first only single women were recruited, but upon severe labour shortages, both married women and mothers were sought out; the government even funded daycare centres so that women would be free to work.

■ In 1943, there were approximately 225,000 Canadian women working in munitions factories.

In The Army Now… In 1941, for the first time in Canadian history, women

were able to enlist in their own divisions of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Although Canadian women were not allowed into combat during the Second World War, they did just about everything else.

Women served as nurses, stretcher bearers, drivers, machine operators, cooks and secretaries. They also flew Canadian built planes to bases in Britain and ferried officers and politicians from Ottawa to London.

They were paid roughly 60% of what their male counterparts made

Enlistment By Women In Canada’s Armed Forces:

Navy 6 781

Air Force 17 018

Army 21 624

Medical Services 4 518

Doctors 58

Over 43,000 women served overseas in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, the Royal Women’s Navy Service and the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/second_world_war/clips/4974/

Wartime Prices and The Trade Board

Prime Minister Mackenzie King was determined to avoid the problems of greed and inflation which had plagued the Canadian political landscape during the first World War

The government set up the Wartime Prices and Trade Board (WPTB) to control prices and supervise the distribution of food and other scarce goods.

Rationing: A Little Goes a Long Way! To ensure there was a large enough supply to meet

both military and civilian needs, certain staple goods were rationed.

Rationed Items Included: Meat, Butter, Tea, Coffee, Gasoline, Tires (rubber),

Alcohol, Clothing Fabric and Silk

Pitching in on all fronts■ dedication to the war effort also extended outside the factories.

■ Women’s organizations collected paper, glass, metal, rubber, rags and bones to be recycled into war supplies.

■ They planted victory gardens, sewed clothes for troops and were recruited to work on farms and in factories.

Financing the War The Canadian Government did

raise taxes during the Second World War to help offset the cost of financing the war. The increased revenue from higher taxes accounted for about one-half of all war-related expenses.

To help pay for the rest, the Canadian government turned to an old idea: Victory Loans drives.

The government conducted nine Victory Loan drives between June 1941 and October 1945. These campaigns raised nearly $12 billion by the end of the war.

Conscription Crisis: Part II

Conscription National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) trained soldiers for

home defense Conscripts nicknamed “Zombies” because they wouldn’t fight in

Europe English complained Zombies were all the French Canadian men

(which wasn’t true) King had promised never to use conscription but on April 27, 1942

he held a referendum to be let out of his promise King claimed: “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if

necessary.” In 1944 King conscripted 16,000 for active duty but fewer than 2500

reached the front

Social Support: Expanding The Social Safety Net

■ The increased role of government was also visible in the expansion of the social safety net.

In 1940, the government passed the Unemployment Insurance Act. In the face of unemployment, workers could now collect insurance.

In 1944, the government introduced Family Allowance and in 1945 the first “baby bonus” cheques were mailed out.