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WWII: The War at Home
Total War
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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
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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 1939-1945
Aircraft
16 000
Rifles
900 000
Military Vehicles
815 000
Merchant Ships
410
Landing Craft
3 302
Navy Tugs
254
Tanks
Escort Ships
6 500
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…
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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:
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.
Navy
Air Force
6 781
17 018
Army
21 624
Medical Services 4 518
Doctors
58
http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/second_world_war/clips/4974/
Wartime Prices and The Trade Board
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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!
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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
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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
Top Secret: Camp X

Camp X, which operated in
Oshawa, Ontario from 1941 to
1946, was a training camp
responsible for training recruits
for the Special Operations
Executive of the British Security
Coordination during World War II.

It was comprised of two sections,
the Special Training School No.
103, which trained allied agents in
the techniques of secret warfare,
and Hydra, a network which
communicated messages
between Canada, United States,
and Great Britain.
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.