The Second World War made enormous demands on Canada's human, industrial, agricultural, natural and financial resources. Virtually the whole country became involved in the war. The federal government harnessed, channelled and directed the nation's war effort. It controlled public information about the war and strove to maintain morale.
Canada Enters the War
The Anglo-French policy of appeasement was brought to an end on 1 September 1939 when Hitler's troops invaded Poland. Two days later Britain declared war on Germany, and one week later on 10 September 1939, the Canadian Parliament made its first independent declaration of war.
Canada's entry into the Second World War was not marked with the same enthusiasm on the home front that greeted the outbreak of war in 1914, partly because there were still memories of the heavy casualties of the First World War. Prior to declaring war, Prime Minister Mackenzie King reassured Canadians that there would be no conscription for overseas service.
By the spring of 1940, the security of Canada was in question. Germany had attacked Norway and Denmark in April, and the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in May. Italy joined Germany and declared war on Britain and France on 10 June just four days before German troops marched into Paris. When France signed Germany's armistice terms on 22 June, Britain and the Commonwealth stood alone in opposition to Hitler and Mussolini.
Mobilization of Manpower, Industry and Agriculture
At the outbreak of the war, Canada's armed forces were woefully small and poorly equipped. On 21 June 1940 Parliament passed the National Resources Mobilization Act authorizing conscription for home defence. Under the act single men and childless widowers between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five were required to register for military service. From October 1940 to February 1941 the training period was thirty days. It was extended to four months in February 1941, and after April 1941 those conscripted under the National Resources Mobilization Act were required to serve in the Western Hemisphere for the duration of the war. The information gathered during the registration was used not only for compulsory military service but also for the control and direction of civilian labour.
The Department of Munitions and Supply was created in April 1940 to accelerate, control and coordinate Canadian industry. Under its Minister, C.D. Howe, twenty-eight Crown companies were formed to strengthen Canada's industrial capacity. These included the Polymer Corporation to synthesize rubber, Victory Aircraft to make Lancaster bombers, Allied War Supplies to administer the chemical and explosives program, Eldorado Mining and Refining to mine and process uranium, and Wartime Oils to supervise the exploitation of new fields. Private industry also participated in wartime production, and top industrial executives were brought to a crowded Ottawa to help with the administration of the federal government and its burgeoning civil service.
In addition to producing equipment for this country's growing forces, Canadian industry supplied Britain after she had lost most of her tanks, artillery and trucks at Dunkirk, and the Soviet Union after Hitler's invasion in June 1941. Canada contributed 10 per cent of the total Commonwealth production, and after the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, was the largest producer of war material for the Allies. Canada also gave $3 billion in aid to Britain and served as "the airdrome of democracy" by training 131,553 aircrew. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan airmen from Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, as well as some from countries overrun by the Germans, were trained here. Airfields were constructed in all parts of Canada, and the aircraft industry expanded as a result of the program.
The military enlistment of workers and the expansion of industry brought about a serious labour shortage. One way in which the government dealt with this problem was by imposing the National Selective Service Civilian Regulations in January 1943. Under these regulations 127,000 workers were transferred from such low priority industries as gold mining and passenger car manufacture to higher priority industries such as tank production, coal and base metal mining, lumbering and logging, and agriculture. The Department of National Defence granted special leave to soldiers to bring in the harvest and to work in the coal mines and forests. Over one million Canadians, many of them women, were brought into the industrial work force during the war, about the same number as served in the armed forces.
To meet the immediate requirements of industry, new skills had to be taught in vocational schools and on the job. Women, in particular, took on new types of work. The fifty thousand women in the armed forces were assigned to non-combatant duties, and civilian women were delegated to jobs traditionally performed only by men, such as operating streetcars, pumping gas, welding, riveting and assembling automobiles. Whether they entered the labour force primarily for economic or patriotic reasons, these women made a significant contribution to the war effort. As a result, the female worker became a sort of national heroine. Caricatures such as Norman Rockwell's "Rose the Riveter," a pert redhead with mighty forearms who appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in May 1943, were a sign of the times. To facilitate the entry of mothers into the labour force, the government established day nurseries.
Almost every region of the country was affected by the war. Hamilton's steel mills, Toronto's munitions plants, Montréal's aircraft factories and Vancouver's shipyards ran three shifts a day, seven days a week. A major hydroelectric development was built to supply the aluminum smelter at Arvida, Québec, which served the aircraft industry. The extraction of iron ore at Steep Rock Lake, Ontario, was made possible by a massive diversion and dredging project. Oil exploration, drilling and production were stimulated in an effort to help meet increased domestic consumption. In general, the exploitation of Canada's natural resources was intensified, with greater quantities of lumber, paper, asbestos, magnesium, coal, uranium, zinc, lead, nickel, copper, tungsten and platinum being produced. The industrial centres of Ontario and Québec prospered as did the ports of the Maritimes and British Columbia and the farms of the Prairies.
Great quantities of Canadian agricultural produce were shipped overseas during the Second World War. The cheese and butter shipments of 1939 doubled by the end of the war, and after the German occupation of Denmark bacon shipments to Britain rose dramatically. The export of dried and powdered eggs increased from ten million dozen in 1940 to ninety million dozen in 1945.
The loss of farm labour to urban industrial centres required more efficient farming methods to meet the wartime demand for farm produce. Farms grew larger, and greater mechanization was introduced. Farmers obtained better yields due to scientifically developed fertilizers and feeds, with the result that the use of commercial fertilizer in the 1940s far surpassed that of the 1930s. In response to the demand, the price of wheat rose from $0.80 a bushel in 1938 to $1.83 in 1945.
Although farm incomes rose during the war and just over a million people remained employed in agriculture, greater industrialization and urbanization changed life in Canada. More than ever before Canadians came to depend on work in industry for their livelihood. The movement of people to the cities immediately caused a serious housing shortage. Encouraged by a booming economy, union membership soared as labour struggled to improve its situation after a decade of hard times. Meanwhile government propaganda stressed the necessity of management and labour working together to defeat the enemy abroad.
Wage and Price Controls and Rationing
The combination of wartime fears and improved purchasing power from higher employment generated inflation. There was panic buying and hoarding at the outset of the war, and by 1941 the cost of living had risen about 20 per cent.
To reduce inflation by curbing consumption at home, and to meet the increasing demands from overseas, the government took various measures. Investment in war bonds was encouraged. Income tax was increased, and indirect taxation was implemented to reduce the amount of money in circulation. The Wartime Prices and Trade Board was created in September 1939 under the powers of the War Measures Act. Chaired by Donald Gordon, the board had the power to control the price, supply and distribution of food, fuel, and other necessities of life. In December 1940 Cabinet imposed a form of wage control on war industries and partial price controls on rent, coal, sugar, timber, steel, milk and other essentials. The supply of materials such as metals and timber was governed by the Wartime Industries Control Board. In October 1941 a near total freeze on wages and prices was announced. Under these conditions, government permission was required to change jobs or to take a promotion. To the extent that it went up much less than 10 per cent between 1942 and 1945 the cost of living was controlled.
A government campaign urged thrift and discouraged consumption. Certain items were rationed from 1942 to as late as 1947, although rationing in Canada was never as severe as it was in Britain. For example, the weekly butter ration in Britain was two ounces (about 55 g) in mid-1941, whereas in Canada it never fell below five and one-third ounces (about 150 g). Two pounds (about 910g) of meat per week were allowed in Canada, while Britons were only permitted fifteen ounces (about 425 g). Canadian restaurants observed meatless Tuesdays and Fridays.
A ration book was issued for every man, woman and child; it entitled the holder to receive only limited quantities of items such as sugar, coffee, tea, butter, preserves, meat and evaporated milk. Provincial liquor control boards rationed alcohol, which was also in short supply. The sale of gasoline and tires was closely controlled, and restrictions were imposed on the use of sulphuric acid, cork, various metals, and rubber, the latter being unavailable from the Far East after the outbreak of war with Japan. Few furnaces, stoves, washers, refrigerators, radios or phonographs were manufactured.
Because of controls on civilian clothing, which required that less fabric be used, fashions became simpler. Women's skirts were shorter, and as silk stockings were generally unavailable, some women resorted to painting their legs with make-up or wearing stockings made of rayon, cotton or artificial silk. For men, the wartime clothing style consisted of cuffless trousers and single-breasted jackets without pocket flaps. A few non-conforming extroverts flaunted the "zoot suit" in the face of wartime frugality. This featured a thigh length broad lapelled jacket with overstuffed shoulders, baggy trousers pegged at the cuff, a broad-brimmed felt hat and a watch chain dangling almost to the knees.
Daylight saving time was made mandatory throughout Canada in 1941, and in 1942 Toronto prohibited the use of electricity for space heating and the production of steam. As the war continued, measures to conserve heating fuel became more severe. When it became evident that the coal shortage was becoming critical, a state of national emergency was declared. On 17 May 1943, an order-in-council was passed providing for the compulsory return of coal miners to the mines and prohibiting the further enlistment of coal miners in the forces. The armed services granted extended indefinite leave to all former coal miners who had enlisted on condition that they return to the mines.
The conservation of gasoline became a national preoccupation. Each owner of a passenger car was generally allowed 120 gallons (545 L). Car pools were encouraged by allowing pool drivers extra coupons. No new cars or trucks for civilians were produced, and despite the pools, public transportation became badly overburdened. The number of seats in buses and streetcars was increased to accommodate more passengers. Work hours were staggered to reduce rush-hour traffic.
By 1943 there was virtually full employment in Canada. The average annual income rose from $975 in 1940 to $1,538 in 1945. Although people had more money to spend than during the depression, unnecessary spending was discouraged by wartime propaganda. The public was constantly reminded of the causes for which the war was being fought.
Propaganda
The importance of freedom, the consequences of defeat, faith in victory and the maintenance of a cheery, confident, buoyant spirit were stressed in wartime films, broadcasts, posters, and pamphlets produced by the Wartime Information Board. A successor to the Bureau of Public Information, established in late 1939, the board was responsible for controlling the substance and flow of information about the war, as well as for the maintenance of morale. The public was told that through hard work and co-operation it could bring about victory and a better world.
News that might cause dissatisfaction among the civilian population or might undermine the morale of the armed forces could be censored in the national interest. Military information was guarded to prevent the enemy from learning anything that might be to its advantage. News about the progress of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was controlled along with information about the movement of troops, shipping, and prisoner of war and internment camps in Canada.
Posters issued by the Wartime Information Board, the Red Cross, and the armed forces were seen everywhere appealing to people to enlist or to buy war bonds or warning them about the dangerous consequences of careless talk. Films served as a vehicle for propaganda as well as a form of entertainment. The National Film Board co-ordinated all government film activity and produced films with Canadian content because most feature films were being made in either the United States or Great Britain. Radio broadcasts stirred patriotism at home and provided information about the war. News from the front was vividly brought into people's homes by Canadian correspondents such as Matthew Halton and Marcel Ouimet.
All aspects of the war were reflected in the newspapers of the day. Current events were reported next to messages entreating readers to buy bonds or to contribute to the war effort in some other way. The sections devoted to fashion, gardening, cooking and social events, and even the comic strips were pervaded by the war.
Wartime Entertainment
Canadian magazines such as Maclean's, Chatelaine, La Revue Populaire, and La Revue Moderne reflected life on the Canadian home front. Within months of a December 1940 ban on the importation of non-essentials, Canadian made comic books appeared. Canada's black and white comics were a short-lived phenomenon, however, for as soon as the American comic books were allowed back into Canada at war's end, Johnny Canuck and the other heroes of the Canadian comics disappeared.
The army and navy shows were a popular form of entertainment both at home and overseas. At home, Canadians danced to live orchestras at war bond rallies. Although Canadians did read books written by Canadian authors and heard the hit parade sung by Canadian performers on CBC radio, American and British entertainers usually had greater appeal. As diversions from wartime tensions, the "big band" sound of the Glen Miller and Tommy Dorsey dance orchestras were extremely popular. Also from the United States came radio programs featuring Amos 'n Andy, the Lone Ranger, and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. American wartime movies such as Casablanca with Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart and songs such as "White Christmas" were to become all-time favourites in Canada as well as the United States. British films such as In Which We Serve and Vera Lynn's song "The White Cliffs of Dover" were also popular in Canada.
Voluntary Participation in the War Effort
All sectors of Canadian society became involved in supporting the country's war effort. Women's groups sent cigarettes, sweaters, socks, magazines and letters to "the boys overseas," and cities, businesses and service clubs provided various amenities to the crews of Canadian air squadrons and ships. In cities across Canada, canteens or non-profit clubs were opened by civilian volunteers to boost the morale of the forces. Comforts and entertainment were provided by the Canadian Legion, the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire, the Knights of Columbus, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the YM and YWCA. St. John Ambulance gave first aid training to members of both the active service and reserve forces.
Children and teenagers also made a significant contribution by gathering a variety of needed materials such as scrap metal. They helped increase agricultural output by working on farms, tending victory gardens and engaging in fund-raising activities at school. A miniature version of the war bond, the war savings certificate, was purchased in quantities by youngsters who found their school social activities dominated by fund raising ventures. Students were constantly reminded of the need to conserve paper.
Conscription
Although virtually every sector of Canadian society became involved in the war effort, there was considerable debate over the wartime policies of the Liberal government of Mackenzie King. Early in the war, federal and provincial elections were waged over the issues. The Union Nationale premier of Québec, Maurice Duplessis, insisted that the federal war measures infringed on provincial rights, but he was defeated in the fall 1939 election that brought the Liberals into power in Québec. He and the Union Nationale were returned in 1944.
The Liberal premier of Ontario, Mitchell Hepburn, precipitated a national election by passing a resolution that the national war policies were inadequate. The King government, which called an election in response to the resolution, was returned with a substantial majority in March 1940, but it still had to contend with a Progressive Conservative opposition that favoured a total commitment to the war, including conscription for overseas service.
Initially, Canada's overseas troops were stationed in Britain where there were almost no casualties. As the conflict continued Canadians became involved in fighting on the Continent, which created a need for replacements. A national plebiscite held in April 1942 indicated that approximately 65 per cent of Canadians were willing to release the government from its promise not to conscript men for overseas service. Although almost 75 per cent of those who voted in Québec were against conscription for overseas service, the National Resources Mobilization Act was amended to permit it if and when necessary. Mackenzie King's policy was then expressed as "not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary."
Greater casualties in 1944 brought the reinforcement problem to a crisis. By the fall of 1944, volunteers were not forthcoming in sufficient numbers; therefore, the use of those conscripted under the National Resources Mobilization Act for home defence appeared to be the answer. Thus, these conscripts, or "zombies" as they were called, were sent overseas. Of thirteen thousand home defence troops sent overseas only twenty-five hundred saw action.
The decision to dispatch them aroused emotions, particularly in Québec. The Minister of National Defence for Air, C.G. Power, resigned in protest. Some troops stationed in British Columbia mutinied against the decision. The conscription issue threatened national unity, but there were no serious civil disturbances like the riots of 1917.
Federal-Provincial Relations
One consequence of the war was the redistribution of power between the federal and provincial governments. For the duration of the war and one year beyond, the provinces were required to vacate certain tax fields including personal income and corporation taxes. Revenue sharing arrangements were made with the provinces, who, after the war, refused to allow the federal government to extend its wartime powers of taxation indefinitely. In spite of the resistance of the provinces, the Second World War resulted in greater centralization of power. The federal government expanded its activities most noticeably in the fields of social security and industrial relations.
Defence Measures on the West Coast
Under the powers of the War Measures Act, the federal government authorized the internment of Canadians of Japanese descent. Widespread anti-Oriental feeling had existed on the West Coast for decades, but Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and the loss of two Canadian battalions at Hong Kong on Christmas Day further inflamed anti-Japanese sentiments. On 26 February 1942 orders-in-council were passed which resulted in some twenty-one thousand Canadians of Japanese ancestry being taken from their houses and moved inland. Their property was seized and much of it was sold at far below fair market value, often without the owner's consent.
Although the military did not share the view that Japanese-Canadians posed a threat to national security, or that a Japanese attack on Canada was imminent, military defenses in British Columbia were strengthened to allay public apprehension. After Japan occupied two of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and a Japanese submarine fired a few shells at a lighthouse at Estevan Point on Vancouver Island, civil defence measures were implemented. Troops were also moved from eastern Canada to augment new units being mobilized in British Columbia, while additional Canadian air squadrons were assigned to the West Coast. Anti-aircraft defenses were strengthened and an armoured train was built to patrol the CNR line between Prince Rupert and Terrace, British Columbia.
Japan's most aggressive act towards Canadian territory was perhaps that of sending nine thousand balloons carrying high explosive or incendiary bombs across the Pacific Ocean in the winter of 1944-45. Fortunately, only about eighty reached Canada, where snow-covered ground prevented them from doing any harm. In Oregon, one woman and five children were killed when one of them accidentally detonated the bomb of a downed balloon.
On the request of the United States, a combined American-Canadian force was sent to the Aleutians to expel the Japanese from the island of Kiska. By August 1943, when the force landed, the Japanese had already left. The Canadians were withdrawn early in 1944.
Canadian-American Relations
The alarming collapse of France in June 1940 was a factor in the close collaboration between Canada and the United States. Had the British Isles been successfully invaded and had the Royal Navy fallen into German hands, North America would have been in danger. Discussions between Prime Minister King and President Roosevelt resulted in the creation of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence.
American defence projects in Canada's North included a highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, Alaska; and oil pipeline from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, to Whitehorse in the Yukon; and aircraft-ferrying facilities, including an air base at Goose Bay, Labrador. To improve weather forecasting, more weather stations were established in the North, including some operated by the Americans. The United States set up military bases in Newfoundland and supplied artillery to help strengthen Canadian defenses on the east and west coasts.
Joint measures were taken to protect the waterways connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Increased traffic in men and materiel, especially on the railways and in ocean ports, required a close liaison between the two countries to prevent congestion.
The Hyde Park Declaration of 20 April 1941 provided for the exchange of war materials between Canada and the United States. To overcome Canada's unfavourable balance of payments position, the United States would purchase from Canada as much as Canada would purchase from the United States. Such arrangements, including the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, were portents of Canada's increasing military and economic dependence on the United States.
Some Effects of the War
Numerous scientific developments can be attributed to Canadian participation in the Second World War. For example, the National Research Council improved the technology for transporting food overseas by creating better drying techniques and refrigeration units. Canadians were involved in military inventions which included flashless propellants for naval guns; the oxygen-demand valve for flight at high altitudes; a proximity fuse that enabled field artillery to explode shells at predetermined heights; and a method to mass produce RDX, an explosive almost twice as powerful as TNT. Dr. W.R. Franks invented the world's first anti-blackout suit.
Canada's activities in the field of nuclear research at Montreal and Chalk River, Ontario, laid the basis for Canada's role as a leader in the field of nuclear power. Uranium was produced at the Eldorado Mine at Port Radium, Northwest Territories, and heavy water at a plant in Trail, British Columbia.
War industries produced 9,000 naval vessels, 815,000 wheeled vehicles, 50,000 armoured fighting vehicles, over 16,000 aircraft, and vast quantities of small arms. Greater industrial output and an improved economy gave a new atmosphere of confidence and optimism.
The heightened expectations of some workers were expressed in their strikes for union recognition and higher wages. To further labour peace, the government recognized the rights of workers in P.C. 1003, an order in council passed in 1944, which remains the foundation for industrial relations in Canada. It gave employees the right to join or form unions of their choice, obliged the employer to bargain with the union representing the majority of workers, established machinery for defining and certifying bargaining units, required compulsory collective bargaining and conciliation, and affirmed the right to strike.
The standard of living rose for most as a result of the war. Whereas the poor had been a majority in Canada in every census since Confederation, their numbers dropped to a third of the population in 1941. Rapid urbanization and industrialization gave rise to public demands for social reform and increased social security. Before the war was over, various studies were undertaken to help in post-war planning. In order to prevent a post- war depression, Dr. L.C. Marsh proposed government spending in his 1943 Report on Social Security for Canada, which argued that social security was a community responsibility and that government spending should include protection against unemployment, sickness and old age. While the King government did not adopt all of Marsh's recommendations, it did extend its activities into new spheres.
An unemployment insurance scheme had already been enacted in 1940 to absorb spending power from workers at a time when unemployment was minimal. In 1944 the Family Allowance Act was introduced to help supplement family income by supplying a "baby bonus" for each member under sixteen years of age. Farmers and fishermen were aided by farm improvement loans and an agricultural and fisheries support program; programs under the National Housing Act were designed to make home ownership easier. New institutions such as the Industrial Development Bank, the Export Credit Corporation, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of National Health and Welfare were created.
To handle the transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy, the Department of Reconstruction, a successor to the Department of Munitions and Supply, was set up under C.D. Howe. The Liberal government of Mackenzie King was returned to power with a reduced majority little more than a month after the war in Europe ended.
In six years of war, many demands had been placed on the Canadian people. As war-weariness set in, however, the appeals for patriotism and self-sacrifice began to meet with some resistance, especially when it was seen that some unscrupulous businessmen and black marketeers had used the war as an opportunity for profiteering. The loss of forty thousand combatants, the prolonged absence of a husband, father, brother or sister, or the employment of a wife or mother in war industry had disrupted the lives of Canadians on the home front. Naturally, they welcomed an end to the years of personal hardship and uncertainty.
As a country, Canada emerged from the Second World War quite transformed from what it had been in the 1930s. The war had acted as a catalyst for advances in material welfare, social security, and agricultural and industrial productivity. A skilled work force had been created, and remote areas of the country were to be further explored and developed by those from the more populated areas. While cultural, economic and defence contacts with Britain were revived by the war, the economic and military ties developed through the war with the United States were to be increasingly significant.
