The Great Depression was a terrible time in the history of Canada and most of the world. It was a time when thousands of people lost their jobs and even their homes due to economic depression. Business was booming in the early 1920s, but when companies tried to expand and therefore issued stock, the economy was turned upside down. Some investors sold their shares at high prices and, as a result, everyone else followed. With less demand, stock prices fell to fractions of what they had been and on October 29, 1929, the New York Stock Exchange collapsed, followed by the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges. This stock market collapse caused a depression the likes of which the world had never seen before. It was important for governments to find methods to deal with the depression, but the Canadian government failed to deal with the Great Depression. A depression is defined as a prolonged period of severe economic and social hardship, massive unemployment, and suffering. This particular depression of the 1930s was a GREAT depression. The drought that hit the Prairies reduced already cheap crops, only 300,000 out of 1,100,000 Canadians earned enough money to pay income taxes, and more than 25% of the Canadian workforce was unemployed. A small minority made a lot of money during the depression, but the majority suffered badly.i A depression of this scale had never been heard of before. The Prime Minister at the time, Mackenzie King, was unprepared to deal with the crisis. within reach. He believed that the depression was just a fluke and that in time the economy would prosper again. King never responded to his citizens' calls for help and said...... middle of paper...... Canadians' confidence in their government to handle situations like this has wavered. And finally, why not do what others have done? Americans were already using this method of spending their way out of depression, and it had worked for them, at least to some extent. It was enough to save millions of lives and give people hope! So why not do like them? Why wait so long until the situation is too late to heal? The Canadian government did not have much success in its efforts to deal with the Great Depression. Replacing prime ministers (twice) and making only minor changes ultimately served no purpose in Canada. The government's weak efforts in its attempts to resolveWorks CitedCanadian Encyclopedia Plus; Bennett; Canada; McLelland and Stewart; 1995 Cranny, Michael. Counterpoints exploring Canadian issues Second edition. Toronto: Pearson Canada Inc..., 2010.