The Wages of Relief: Cities and the Unemployed in Prairie Canada (Essay Sample)

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The Wages of Relief: Cities and the Unemployed in Prairie Canada
The book wages of relief: Cities and the unemployed in Prairie Canada 1929-39 is one of its kind. It paves the way to Canada’s modern welfare system. All this is, however, after a critical analysis of the History of Canada’s business and labor. In a bid to understand the Canadian Business, as well as its labor history, the book, Wages of relief plays a key role. This is because it goes back to history when Canadian businesses gave in no profit. In addition to that, it explores the labor history of Canada and how the nation handled the same crisis. It thus gives the roots of Canada other than bringing its modern picture alone without the history behind the same. The book is also essential in my course as it focuses on various social and economic crises and how they were brilliantly handled so that we have a productive Canada today. It serves as a guide to other states who suffer the same crisis and are unable to handle the latter. The significance of Wages of Relief are mostly because apart from giving the past and present state of the land that suffered tremendous social, economic downfall, it gives solutions to the same thus allowing for hope to more nations even in the future generations (Strikwerda, 24).
To begin with Strikwerda lays the foundation of the condition of the Canadian Prairie City that makes a core part of the city’s history. This also forms the basis of my review. The Canadian Prairie City is recorded to have suffered an economic decline before the Great War. This has it that the nation suffered high rates of unemployment as well as poverty among other social, economic crises. Near the beginning of 1920’s nevertheless; several metropolises had already come up with mechanisms of dealing with the economic crises that the nation suffered before the immense war. As a result (Strikwerda, 14), The Canadian Prairie City was more or less a safe and sound refuge in the initial part of the 1930’s during the Great War as recorded by Strikwerda.
In this review, I have not only reviewed the book but I have also paid attention in the course commentary. It begins with my awareness of the book. In this segment, I have highlighted certain issues which I would love to pursue in my review. In addition to that, I have explained how suitable the book is to my coverage. Later in my review, I have explained how better equipped I am to understand the Canadian business, as well as its labor history, after reading it. I have thus given a conventional review with course commentary based on how I understood the book to be as discussed below (Strikwerda, 36).
It is important to appreciate the role of the leadership of the nation towards the healing of their state. For instance, awaiting 1933, the country played a key role in maintaining its responsibility of paying consideration to the less privileged in their municipalities. This was a task run by the local governments. The situation and management nonetheless shift to the central government when the crisis becomes severe. This was a result of the collapse of most farms that year which intensified the hopelessness in the society. Western Canadian Cities for instance are stated to have undergone a massive negative economic growth (Strikwerda, 54).
Some structural adjustments are noted to be put in place as soon as the government takes over the leadership of the state from the local leadership. For instance, there is the development of centralized programs that are burdened with the responsibility of delivering aids to those who were single as well as married couples and unemployed. They worked under new policies, as well. In addition to that, the central government also pulls out from funding for open public works schemes. The government is also recorded to set up metropolitan aid administrations whose core task is to ensure they give relief to the urban poor as well as cater for their well being. The government comes up with policies that guide the policy makers not only in ascertaining policy directions but the understanding of the individuals also as well as households who relied on the aids for their daily living (Strikwerda, 64).
If we paid attention to these three Canadian Cities for reference: Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg, Strikwerda reasons out that the city officials manipulated their authority to come up with guiding principles that focused on what they comprehended to be the most critical hazards to social order which originated from the economic crisis. He for instance analyzes the difference with which the local relief programs handled the married men with respect to the single ones. He also critics essential gendered varieties at work places in reaction to the municipal administrators to both the economic and social turmoil of the dejection. In questioning the way of thinking of the native elites in Canada who struggle beyond normal circumstances, Strikwerda in his Wages of Relief portrays the continuing impact of those policy changes. This is especially when addressing the abroad and national tactic to unemployment. It is the methodology responsible for the Canada’s current welfare systems which are successful.
After reading the book Wages of Relief, I am better equipped to understand the Canadian business and its labor history. This is based on the fact that the book explores the different economic and social crises that the nation suffered back in history. This is essential before its economic boom (Strikwerda, 74). The book for instance records that the nation suffered an economic crisis even before the Great War, which was responsible for the fall of most economies. As a result, the nation had put its mind towards healing its land even before the war. Therefore, when the war came forth, the nation could not engage in it rather it considered ensuring the growth of the nation because most Canadians were suffering depression (Strikwerda, 90).
During those ancient times, it is important to note that the leadership of the state was decentralized. As a result, the Canadian business and labor was highly decentralized in that people could so easily work within their native regions rather than migrate and move across the country in the name of work. This meant that the local government had the task of caring for its natives alone instead of the entire nation. This government was not very successful and as a result, there was a shift to the central government.
The book addresses the problem of unemployment. This means the country’s labor is more developed when weighed against those dark years. The nation has thus grown a great deal even in creating jobs since the years of economic and social depression. This was as a result of the economic fall before the war which lessened the demand for laborers in different fields. Consequently, the local government could not meet the cost of paying its employees as expected due to the economic instability. In addition to that, more people lost their jobs during the war due to insecurity amongst other factors. The withdrawal of the government from financing the public works projects was also responsible for the unemployment because most employees were forced to withdraw as they expected no income. This was heightened when the government withdrew from financing the public works (Strikwerda, 102).
The nation also relied on the agricultural industry most. This is apparent when the depression that the nation suffered worsened after their farms failed to produce in 1933. It is for this reason that the central government came in to aid. As a result, it is unmistakable that Canada has come from a larger expectancy on the agricultural business to the industrial sector among other fields. This has increased their sources of income and consequently their job opportunities thus curbing the problem of unemployment (Strikwerda, 124).
Among the aspects to review, creation of job opportunities and employment are most important. It is essential to note that the municipal officials were unfair in the creation of job opportunities. For instance, they offered most of the major social works to the married and unemployed men while ignoring the single men. In their policies, they stated that they could not give any aid unless the individuals worked. As a result, most people flooded to work even when there were insufficient vacancies. They for instance, they at most employed 500 men yet the unemployed were beyond 1000. As a result, they were forced to offer support even to those who did not work. They defended their selves by falsely accusing the single men of arising crises that referred them to as the major threat to the economic development. This problem was, however, handled by the central government which took over the burden of the single men. They created camps where they could offer them with essential aids for survival. The camps were under the management of the Department of National Defense so as to handle the threat claimed by the municipal officials. From this, it is palpable that the municipal officials abused their positions by mistreating the citizens and failing to exercise equity and fairness in distribution of the resources thus led to betray the citizens (Strikwerda, 150).
There was also gender based discrimination. For example, the created jobs were only offered to the married men whether or not they were qualified. This was unlike the women even if they were qualified. Apart from that, the system focused on employment as a right to an unqualified man and not a right to a qualified woman. This was based on their marital status as well as well as the economic backgrounds. The assumption was made on the belief that, during moments of economic crisis, there should be only ...