War Labor Policies in Canada
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400113 |
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| Author | Margaret Mackintosh |
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
75
War
Labor
Policies
in
Canada
By
MARGARET
MACKINTOSH
ANADA
declared
war
on
Germany
C on
September
10,
1939.
Since
that
date
Canadian
industry
has
been
almost
revolutionized.
Agricultural
production
has
been
maintained
and
in
some
in-
stances
increased.
Men
and
women
have
been
recruited
to
the
armed
serv-
ices.
These
developments
naturally
rendered
more
acute
existing
labor
difficulties
and
created
new
problems.
Moreover,
fiscal
and
economic
policies
determined
on
a
broad
view
of
national
welfare
in
wartime
are
likely
to
affect
labor
very
closely.
The
three
principal
labor
problems
confronting
the
Cana-
dian
Government
since
the
outbreak
of
war
have
been
the
maintenance
of
in-
dustrial
peace,
the
stabilizing
of
wages
as
part
of
the
Government’s
anti-
inflationary
policy,
and
the
supply
of
labor.
POPULATION
AND
WAR
CONTRIBUTION
In
considering
these
problems,
two
factors
should
be
kept
in
mind:
first,
the
population
of
the
country;
and
second,
the
nature
of
its
contribution
in
the
war
of
1914-18
and
in
this
war.
The
Canadian
people
number
11,500,-
000,
about
two
million
less
than
in
New
York
State.
In
1914,
Canada
had
a
population
of
7,500,000.
The
nine
Ca-
nadian
provinces
stretch
from
the
At-
lantic
to
the
Pacific,
but
over
seven
million
people
are
in
Ontario
and
Que-
bec,
the
two
most
highly
industrialized
provinces.
Canada’s
chief
contributions
in
the
last
war
were
food
supplies
and
619,000
men
for
the
Army.
Her
Navy
included
only
5,400
men.
There
was
no
Cana-
dian
Air
Force.
Munitions
were
manu-
factured
in
Canada,
and
the
output
of
shells
was
very
considerable,
but
all
munitions
were
produced
for
the
British
Government
operating
through
its
own
agency
in
Canada.
The
Canadian
Gov-
ernment
had
no
responsibility
for
muni-
tions
production,
and
war
industry
can
hardly
be
said
to
have
competed
for
labor
with
the
armed
forces.
In
this
war,
conditions
are
quite
dif-
ferent.
From
August
1939
to
June
1942,
about
$100,000,000
more
food-
stuffs
(in
1926
prices)
were
exported
to
the
United
Kingdom
than
were
shipped
there
and
to
European
Allies
in
the
five
years
1914-19.
Aside
from
food
and
certain
raw
materials,
all
war
supplies
manufactured
in
Canada
are
contracted
for
by
the
Department
of
Munitions
and
Supply
of
the
Canadian
Government,
either
on
its
own
account
or
on
behalf
of
the
British
or
an
Allied
government.
War
contracts
between
July
1939
and
June
30
of
this
year
total
over
$4,870,-
000,000.
All
munitions
produced
in
the
last
war
were
worth
about
half
that
of
the
output
in
1942
alone-and
a
dollar
is
worth
more
today
than
in
1917-18.
Canada’s
labor
force
is
now
being
stretched
with
difficulty
to
cover
the
armed
services
and
the
tremendous
ex-
pansion
in
industry.
The
services
have
already
taken
505,000
(of
whom
about
9,900
are
women,
and
this
number
is
rapidly
increasing) :
340,000
in
the
Ac-
tive
Army,
40,000
in
the
Navy,
and
over
125,000
in
the
Air
Force.
Em-
ployed
in
manufacturing
the
necessary
supplies,
making
munitions,
or
con-
structing
munitions
plants
and
defense
projects,
are
approximately
850,000
workers,
over
twice
the
highest
number
so
employed
in
1914-18.
Of
these,
120,000
are
women.
Factory
workers
have
increased
from
600,000
in
October
1939
to
more
than
1,072,000,
the
princi-
pal
increase
being
in
munitions,
includ-
at SAGE PUBLICATIONS on December 4, 2012ann.sagepub.comDownloaded from
To continue reading
Request your trial