Mackenzie King was Canada's longest-serving prime minister (Neatby, 2005). For many, King was a formidable and effective prime minister. But for others, he was ineffective because of his “five-cent speech,” his racist behavior and finally his strong spiritual convictions. This therefore makes William Lyon Mackenzie King an ineffective Prime Minister of Canada from the years 1921 to 1929. The most important act of King which clearly shows that he is an inept and ineffective Prime Minister was his "5 cent speech" . King gave his speech in the 1930s – at the start of the Great Depression – the speech essentially states that King would give relief money only to provinces with a Liberal-Provincial government, and the speech also states that King would not will not give a “5 cent coin”. » (Chong, 2002) to provinces with a conservative provincial government. This shows how he favors only those who support the Liberals, and not the goodwill of Canada as a whole. In fact, at the start of the Great Depression – when the stock market collapsed – he was reluctant to even acknowledge the existence of an economic crisis. King believed that the Great Depression was only a temporary crisis that would resolve itself in a short time and that the good times of the 1920s would return. King did not realize the scale and severity of the crisis and he allowed the crisis to spiral out of control by delaying action, but he ultimately decided to act to help the provinces in need. Instead of King helping everyone in need, he decided to choose who he wanted to help: the provinces with Liberal governments. This exclusion of other provincial governments – conservatives – shows that King does not want to help Canada as a country in any way and this is contrary to what a ...... middle of paper ...... Citizendium : http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/William_Lyon_Mackenzie_KingCanada in the 1920s and 1930s. (2014). Retrieved April 14, 2014 from Canada in the 1920s and 1930s: http://canadainthe20sand30s.wikispaces.com/Leadership+of+William+Lyon+Mackenzie+King+in+the+2%200s%20CitizendiumCanadiana. (nd). Retrieved April 14, 2014 from Canadiana: http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/specifique/asian_e.html Chong, MR (2002). Canadian history since the First World War. Retrieved May 19, 2014 from Markville: http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/history/history/fivecent.html Keefer, DM (September 3, 2009). The Canadian Charger. Retrieved May 15, 2014 from The Canadian Charger: http://www.thecanadiancharger.com/page.php?id=5&a=115Neatby, HB (2005). KING, WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from Biographi: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/king_william_lyon_mackenzie_17E.html