Guiding Questions:
• What are the effects of a successful economy
on a society?
• What are the reactions of society to
downturns in the economy?
• When have there been periods of prosperity
and decline in our economy?
• How are the people and the workforce
affected by the economic cycle?
• What are the stages of the economic cycle?
• What reactions have there been to previous
periods of decline such as the Great
Depression of the 1930s? (overview)
• What was done to reduce the effects of this
decline?
• What organizations developed out of the
depression?
• Are periods of prosperity and decline
necessary? Why or why not?
• How can severe declines be prevented?
• How have these periods of prosperity and
decline affected society?
Suggested Representations:
• Create a graphic depicting the stages in the economic
cycle as they apply to periods of our history, from
WWI through to the end of the 20th century. Include
explanations of the following terms in your graphic:
recession, depression, recovery, prosperity, decline, and
inflation. Also, explain how deficit financing and
supply and demand affect this cycle.
• Create a newspaper article with headlines that
describe the causes of, immediate consequences of,
and initial government reaction to the Great
Depression of the 1930s. Include information
concerning the effect of overproduction, stock market
speculation, buying on credit, and western crop
failures on the depression.
• Create a series of "on location" news reports depicting
the reactions of labour to economic conditions in the
years immediately following WWI and in the midst of
the depression of the 1930s. Include a description and
explanation for such events as the: formation of One
Big Union, Winnipeg General Strike, On-to-Ottawa
Trek, and the creation of the Regina Manifesto.
• Create diary entries for the following people living
during the Great Depression: a farmer on the prairies,
a banker in the city, an industrial worker in the city, a
doctor or lawyer, and a mother with small children.
Diary entries should relate how each of these people
was affected differently, what they observed
happening, their feelings about the situation, and their
thoughts for the future.
• Create a series of posters or editorial cartoons that
depict government reactions to the Depression and
proposals or attempts made to correct the situation
RESOURCES
Canadian Economic History , University of P.E.I.
photo: Great War Veterans Association Parade, Winnipeg, 4 June 1919. Provincial Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg Strike Collection, ©1997 TimeLinks.
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