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Industry
Prior to the war Canada was in a deep recession, and massive unemployment
was a significant reason for the early success of recruitment. At first the news
of war put the country's delicate economy at risk as any domestic, civilian construction
projects were cancelled or put on hold. But soon demands for ammunition, supplies
and weapons brought employment and the economy itself back to life.
In the decade prior to the war Canada's iron and steel industries were just finding
their feet (much of the CPR was built with offshore metal). But, in September,
1914 the Canadian shell industry called on those industries to ramp up rapidly.
Within a few months any factory capable of producing shrapnel shells was clamouring
for lucrative government contracts being given out by Hughes' Ministry of Militia
through a Shell Committee that would in less than a year, be enveloped in scandal
as dealings with businessmen with ties to the committee |
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came to light. Despite intense industrial interest, the fledging shell
factories were having trouble meeting the rapacious needs of the Allies partially
due to a shortage of men to work in the factories.
By 1915, Borden had scrapped the Shell Committee and replaced it with the Imperial
Munitions Board. The Board hired 30,000 women to work in the offices and on factory
floors of companies supplying the war machine. The IMB's efforts paid off. Two
years later one-third of all shells for the British were being made in Canada.
Canadians in over 600 factories were also hard at work manufacturing nearly 3,000
aircraft and 100 naval vessels. By the end of the war the Imperial Munition Boards
employed almost 300,000 Canadians, making it the biggest employer in the country.
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Shell Shop, Medicine
Hat
Canadian factories across the country, like this
one in
Medicine Hat, jumped into the shell and munitions business at the beginning of
the war. |
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