Editing William Lyon Mackenzie King (section)

=== Economic reforms ===
==== Free trade ====
Promising a much-desired trade treaty with the U.S., the King government passed the 1935 [[Reciprocity (Canadian politics)|Reciprocal]] Trade Agreement. It marked a turning point in Canadian-American economic relations, reversing the disastrous trade war of 1930–31, lowering tariffs, and yielding a dramatic increase in trade. More subtly, it revealed to the prime minister and President Roosevelt that they could work well together.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Boucher |first=Marc T. |title=The Politics of Economic Depression: Canadian-American Relations in the Mid-1930s |journal=International Journal |year=1985–1986 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=3–36 |jstor=40202349 |doi=10.2307/40202349}}</ref><ref>[[#Neatby1976|Neatby (1976)]], pp. 143–48.</ref>

==== Social programs ====
King's government introduced the National Employment Commission in 1936. As for the unemployed, King was hostile to federal relief.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Neatby |first=H. Blair |date=1972 |title=The Politics of Chaos: Canada in the Thirties |publisher=Gage |isbn=0-7715-5661-6 |pages=84–86}}</ref> However, the first compulsory national [[Unemployment benefits|unemployment insurance]] program was instituted in August 1940 under the King government after a constitutional amendment was agreed to by all of the Canadian provinces, to concede to the federal government legislative power over unemployment insurance. New Brunswick, Alberta and Quebec had held out against the federal government's desire to amend the constitution but ultimately acceded to its request, Alberta being the last to do so. The ''[[Constitution Act, 1867|British North America Act]]'' Section 91 was amended by adding in a heading designated Number 2A simply in the words "Unemployment Insurance".<ref>[http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/ca_1867.html CA, 1867:] [[Constitution Act, 1867]], 30 & 31 Victoria, c. 3. Consolidated with amendments</ref> As far back as February 1933, the Liberals had committed themselves to introducing unemployment insurance; with a declaration by Mackenzie King that was endorsed by all members of the parliamentary party and the National Liberal Federation in which he called for such a system to be put in place.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059503055&seq=157&q1=as+well+as+that+of+all+the+members+of+the+parliamentary+party Mackenzie King, by Norman McLeod Rogers; a revised and extended edition of a biographical sketch by John Lewis, A Revised and Extended Edition of a Biographical Sketch by John Lewis, 1935, P.129]</ref>

Over the next thirteen years, a wide range of reforms were realized during King's last period in office as prime minister. In 1937, the age for blind persons to qualify for old-age pensions was reduced to 40 in 1937, and later to 21 in 1947.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PM9RMKQqaiUC&q=canada+widows+pensions+1927&pg=PA79|title=Old Age Pensions and Policy-Making in Canada|isbn=978-0-7735-6066-6|last1=Bryden|first1=K.|date=May 1974|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP }}</ref> In 1939, compulsory contributions for pensions for low-income widows and orphans were introduced (although these only covered the regularly employed) while depressed farmers were subsidized from that same year onwards. In 1944, family allowances were introduced. King had various arguments in favour of family allowances, one of which, as noted by one study, was that family allowances "would mean better food, clothing and medical and dental care for children in low-income families."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=x9yukSm32YQC&dq=Family+allowances+would+mean+better+food,+clothing+and+medical+and+dental+care+for+children+in+low-income+families&pg=PA2704  Hearings Volume 3 By United States. Congress Senate, 1966, P.2704]</ref> These were approved after divisions in cabinet.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/FAMILY_ALLOWANCES_IN_CANADA/veQUAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=With+Cabinet+tsill+divided+over+family+allowances,+Clifford+Clark&pg=PA101&printsec=frontcover Family Allowances in Canada The Origins and Implementation By Mark Palmer, 2013, P.101]</ref> From 1948 the federal government subsidized medical services in the provinces;<ref>''Foundations of the Welfare State'', 2nd Edition by [[Pat Thane]], published 1996</ref> a policy which led to developments in services such as dental care.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Politics_of_Dental_Care_in_Canada/BgI8EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Canada+1948+grants+dental+care+for+crippled+children.&pg=PA52&printsec=frontcover The Politics of Dental Care in Canada By Carlos Quiñonez, 2021, P.52]</ref> 

==== Spending management ====
The provincial governments faced declining revenues and higher welfare costs. They needed federal grants and loans to reduce their deficits. In a December 1935 conference with the premiers, King announced that the federal grants would be increased until the spring of 1936. At this stage, King's main goal was to have a federal system in which each level of government would pay for its programs out of its own tax sources.<ref name="Neatby" />

King only reluctantly accepted a [[Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] solution that involved federal [[deficit spending]], tax cuts, and subsidies to the housing market.<ref name="auto" /> King and his [[Minister of Finance (Canada)|finance minister]], [[Charles Avery Dunning]], had planned to [[balanced budget|balance the budget]] for 1938. However, some colleagues, to King's surprise, opposed that idea and instead favoured job creation to stimulate the economy, citing British economist [[John Maynard Keynes]]'s theory that governments could increase employment by spending during times of low private investment. In a politically motivated move, King accepted their arguments and hence ran deficits in both 1938 and 1939.<ref name="Neatby" />

==== Workers ====
Various reforms affecting working people were also introduced.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993398&seq=7 Labour Legislation in Canada 1937, P.1-57]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993399&seq=7 Labour Legislation in Canada 1938-40, P.1-7]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993401&seq=9 Labour Legislation in Canada 1941-44, P.1-7]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2993400&seq=9 Labour Legislation in Canada 1945-46, P.1-24]</ref> The various provinces were assisted by the ''Federal Unemployment and Agricultural Assistance Act of 1938'' and the ''Youth Training Act of 1939'' to create training programs for young persons,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AdhuHFvqjwC&q=Canada+Unemployment+and+Agricultural+Assistance+Act+1939&pg=PA130|title=Introduction to Recreation and Leisure|isbn=978-1-4504-2417-2|last1=Kinetics|first1=Human|year=2013|publisher=Human Kinetics }}</ref> while an amendment to the ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]'' in May 1939 provided against refusal to hire, or dismissal, "solely because of a person's membership in a lawful trade-union or association".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HH983HtDMRQC&q=Canada+AN+AMENDMENT+to+the+Canadian+Criminal+Code,+which+received+Royal+assent+on+May+19,+1939,+provides+against+refusal+to+hire,+or+dismissal,+solely+because+of+membership+in+a+lawful+trade-union+or+association |title=MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW VOLUME 49: JULY TO DECEMBER 1939|year=1939}}</ref>

The ''Vocational Training Co-ordination Act'' of 1942 provided an impetus to the provinces to set up facilities for postsecondary vocational training.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtRFyFO4hpEC&q=Canadian+Vocational+training+1942&pg=PA196|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|isbn=0-8032-4787-7|last1=Wishart|first1=David J.|date=January 2004|publisher=U of Nebraska Press }}</ref> Further, in 1948, the ''Industrial Relations and Disputes Investigation Act'' was passed; this act safeguarded the rights of workers to join unions while requiring employers to recognize unions chosen by their employees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acep-cape.ca/en/collective-bargaining/mobilization-and-communication/mobilization-bulletin-volume-1-no-4-may-15-2015/the-labour-movement-and-the-fight-for-a-fairer-canada-an-historical-perspective/|title=MOB! CAPE's mobilization bulletin|access-date=October 12, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073311/http://www.acep-cape.ca/en/collective-bargaining/mobilization-and-communication/mobilization-bulletin-volume-1-no-4-may-15-2015/the-labour-movement-and-the-fight-for-a-fairer-canada-an-historical-perspective/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A Fisheries Price Support Act was also introduced with the aim of providing fishermen with similar safeguards to industrial workers covered by minimum wage legislation.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b139158&seq=14 Liberal action for a greater Canada: speaker's handbook, federal general election, 1957, P.109]</ref>

==== Housing ====
The Federal Home Improvement Plan of 1937 provided subsidized rates of interest on rehabilitation loans to 66,900 homes, while the ''[[National Housing Act (Canada)|National Housing Act]]'' of 1938 made provision for the building of low-rent housing.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/housing-and-housing-policy/|title=Housing and Housing Policy|author=Ann McAfee|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> Another Housing Act was later passed in 1944 with the intention of providing federally guaranteed loans or mortgages to individuals who wished to repair or construct dwellings through their own initiative.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mArVVlO02MC&q=canada+housing+act+1944&pg=PA122|title=Anabaptist/Mennonite Faith and Economics|year=1994|isbn=978-0-8191-9350-6|last1=Redekop |first1=Calvin Wall |last2=Krahn |first2=Victor A. |last3=Steiner |first3=Samuel J. |publisher=University Press of America }}</ref>

==== Agriculture ====
While King opposed Bennett's [[Canadian Wheat Board]] in 1935, he accepted its operation. However, by 1938, the board had sold its holdings and King proposed returning to the open market. This angered [[Western Canadian]] farmers, who favoured a board that would give them a guaranteed minimum price, with the federal government covering any losses. Facing a public campaign to keep the board, King and his [[Minister of Agriculture (Canada)|minister of agriculture]], [[James Garfield Gardiner]], reluctantly extended the board's life and offered a minimum price that would protect the farmers from further declines.<ref name="Neatby" /> Also, from 1935 onwards, measures were carried out to promote prairie farm rehabilitation.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b139158&seq=14 Liberal action for a greater Canada: speaker's handbook, federal general election, 1957, P.128]</ref> Also, in 1945 a Farm Improvement Loans Act was introduced that provided for bank loans for purposes such as land improvement and the repair and construction of farm buildings.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Foreign_Crops_and_Markets/PQJBLKRtK5AC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Farm+Improvement+Loans+Act+1945+Canada&pg=RA1-PA156&printsec=frontcover Foreign Crops and Markets Volume 50 1945, P.156]</ref>

==== Crown corporations ====
In 1937, King's government established the [[Trans-Canada Air Lines]] (the precursor to [[Air Canada]]), as a subsidiary of the [[Crown corporations of Canada|crown corporation]], [[Canadian National Railways]]. It was created to provide air service to all regions of Canada.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marsh |first1=James |title=Trans-Canada Airlines |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/trans-canada-airlines#:~:text=Trans-Canada%20Airlines-,Trans-Canada%20Airlines%20was%20created%2010%20April%201937%20by%20Act,used%20to%20survey%20new%20routes. |website=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=10 April 2022 |date=7 February 2006}}</ref>

In 1938, King's government [[nationalize]]d the [[Bank of Canada]] into a crown corporation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bankofcanada.ca/about/history/ |title=The Bank's History |website=Bank of Canada |access-date=June 9, 2011}}</ref>