Editing R. B. Bennett (section)

===Labour policy and relief camps===
[[File:RB Bennett telegram in 1934.jpg|thumb|1934 telegram by Bennett concerning relief camps]]

By 1933, unemployment was at 27 percent and over 1.5 million Canadians were dependent on direct relief. In 1934, Bennett's government passed the ''[[Public Works Construction Act]]''. This launched a federal building program worth $40 million and aimed at generating employment opportunities. In 1935, another public works bill was passed; the bill provided another $18 million for construction projects.<ref name="BennettBio" /> Bennett's government created labour camps for unemployed single men; at the camps, they lived in bunkhouses and were paid 20 cents a day in return for a 44-hour week of toil.<ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Calls for Help |url=https://www.cbc.ca/history/SECTIONSE1EP13CH2LE.html |website=CBC |access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref>

Having survived Section 98, and benefiting from the public sympathy wrought by persecution, Communist Party members set out to organize workers in the relief camps set up by the ''Unemployment and Farm Relief Act''. Camp workers laboured on a variety of infrastructure projects, including municipal airports, roads, and park facilities, along with a number of other make-work schemes. Conditions in the camps were poor, not only because of the low pay, but also the lack of recreational facilities, isolation from family and friends, poor quality food, and the use of [[military discipline]]. Communists thus had ample grounds on which to organize camp workers, although the workers were there of their own volition.<ref>{{harvnb|Strikwerda|2012|p=172}}</ref> The [[Relief Camp Workers' Union]] was formed and affiliated with the [[Workers' Unity League]], the trade union umbrella of the Communist Party. Camp workers in BC struck on 4 April 1935, and, after two months of protesting in Vancouver, began the [[On-to-Ottawa Trek]] to bring their grievances to Bennett's doorstep. The prime minister and his minister of justice, [[Hugh Guthrie]], treated the trek as an attempted insurrection and ordered it to be stopped. The [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) read the [[Riot Act#Canada|Riot Act]] to a crowd of 3,000 strikers and their supporters in [[Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina]] on 1 July 1935, resulting in two deaths and dozens of injured.<ref name="BennettBio" />