Which institution was created in 1934 during the Great Depression to manage the money supply?
- The Bank of Canada
- The Bank of Montreal
- The Royal Canadian Mint
- The Toronto Stock Exchange
Answer: The Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada was created in 1934, during the Great Depression. It is Canada’s central bank: it manages the money supply and helps keep the financial system stable. People were also asking for a social safety net at that time.
Learn more: Between the wars
- After the First World War, the British Empire became a free association of states called the British Commonwealth of Nations.
- Canada is still a leading member of the Commonwealth, with India, Australia, New Zealand and several African and Caribbean countries.
- The “Roaring Twenties” were boom times with low unemployment.
- The stock market crash of 1929 led to the Great Depression, or the “Dirty Thirties.”
- Unemployment reached 27% in 1933, and many businesses were wiped out.
- Farmers in Western Canada were hit hardest, by low grain prices and a terrible drought.
- There was growing demand for a government social safety net: minimum wages, a standard work week and programs such as unemployment insurance.
- The Bank of Canada, a central bank that manages the money supply and brings stability to the financial system, was created in 1934.
- Immigration dropped, and many refugees were turned away, including Jews trying to flee Nazi Germany in 1939.