From the big scrapbook of time, here’s a look at Canada in
1940-
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| Tourist cabins are far and few between but Nash features seats that lay flat and make into twin travel beds. Lucky travellers can stop whenever, wherever they like, when they own a 1940 Nash. |
January 25: The Prime Minister
surprises the country by calling a snap election only hours after the House of
Commons reconvenes after Christmas holidays. Mackenzie King wants a clear
mandate to lead the country through the war. It is a bold gamble on the part of
the Grits; no one likes to vote in the dead of winter.
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| John Buchan is a well-known novelist. His book, 39 Steps, was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935. |
February 6: Lord Tweedsmuir, the
Governor General, suffered a stroke while shaving this morning. He fell and
injured his head badly. Dr. Wilder Penfield, the famous brain surgeon, will
operate on His Excellency twice but the prognosis will not be good.
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| Lord Tweedsmuir founded the Governor General's Prize for literature. |
February 11: The Governor General
is dead at the age of 64. It is the first time that our head of state has died
in office. The Prime Minister will eulogize Lord Tweedsmuir in a national radio
address, “In
the passing of His Excellency, the people of Canada have lost one of the
greatest and most revered of their Governors General, and a friend who, from
the day of his arrival in this country, dedicated his life to their
service."
March 4: Premier Hepburn bans the
viewing of Canada at War in theatres
throughout Ontario, claiming that the March of Time production is “political
propaganda of the most blatant kind.”
March 7: The Agricultural Supply Board begins its work of making
sure there is enough food at home and for our soldiers fighting on the
battlefront. The agency will be disbanded when victory comes—but no one can
imagine the war will last six long years.
March 8: Nora Golding is born in
Sarnia, Ontario. She will grow up, change her name to Susan Clark and become an
actress appearing in movies like The
Apple Dumpling Gang, Airport, Porky’s and The Butterbox Babies. She will also star in the TV sitcom Webster, in the role of Katherine
Papadopolis.
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| The Conservative Party wants a national government--made up of members from each political party. |
March 26: The Grits sweep the
election, winning 179 seats. That gives the Liberals a second consecutive majority government. Even the Leader of the Queen’s
Loyal Opposition loses his seat in the House.
March 22: David Michael Keon is born in Noranda, Quebec. He will
grow up to be one of the greatest centres in the NHL, skating for the Toronto
Maple Leafs for 15 seasons. He will retire from the sport in 1982.
April 2: Donald George Jackson is
born in Oshawa, Ontario. He will grow up to be a figure skater, winning the
Canadian Junior Men's title in 1955 at age 14. He will hold the senior crown
from 1959 to 1962, bring home a bronze medal at the 1960 Olympics and earn
silver at the World Championships that year. At the 1962 World Championships he
will win gold by executing the first triple lutz ever jumped in a competition.
April 3: The Earl of Athlone is
appointed to be our new Governor General. He will have a devil of time getting
here from Britain; his ship will be forced to zigzag across the Atlantic Ocean, as its
captain outwits German U-Boats. The new Governor General will finally arrive in
Halifax in June.
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| The Honourable C.D. Howe chats with a worker in an aircraft factory. |
April 9: Clarence Decatur Howe is
appointed Minister of Munitions and Supply for the duration of the war. The
economic wizard will create 28 Crown corporations that supply everything from
bullets to tanks and ships for the war effort.
April 13: The Stanley Cup goes
home with the New York Rangers who have beat the Maple Leafs, four games to
two.
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| Franklin D. Roosevelt built 'The Little White House' in 1932. |
April 24: Prime Minister
Mackenzie King is the personal guest of US President and Mrs. Roosevelt at
their winter home in Warm Springs, Georgia. It is private time for all. No
press conferences will be held so that the American Neutrality Act is not
broken.
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| Senator Therese Casgrain has fought hard for women to be allowed to vote in Quebec. She will be honoured with a stamp in 1985. |
April 25: All nine provinces now
permit women to vote, as Quebec grants the privilege to women residing in la belle province.
May 1: Hitler’s troops don’t seem
to be going anywhere. Pundits call it the “Phony War.” Nonetheless, Canada is
prepared for the worst as stocks of goods reach a three-year high.
May 22: Jacques Michel André
Sarrazin is born in Quebec City. He will grow up to be a movie star, using the
name Michael Sarrazin. Movies will include The
Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Double Negative, The Reincarnation of Peter
Proud and Joshua Then and Now.
May 29: There is no debate as to whether or not there will be war--the question is when. Parliament authorizes a
budget of $700 million for the armed forces and announces the creation of two
new Canadian divisions.
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| Ford of Canada and General Motors of Canada will cooperate to built Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) trucks. |
June 4: More than 300,000 Allied
troops are evacuated from Dunkirk, Belgium and escape death at the hands of
German soldiers. The Allies lose virtually all of their 80,000 wheeled vehicles to the Germans. It will be
up to Canadian auto industry to fill in the breach. Ford and GM will co-operate
to build nearly half a million trucks before victory is won in 1945.
June 5: Ottawa declares all Nazi,
fascist and Communist organizations to be illegal. Leaders of these seditious groups are rounded up and sent to prison.
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| The Honourable Member of Parliament for Kingston will have a Canadian Coast Guard Ship named in his memory in 1969. |
June 10: The war continues to take its toll as the MP
for Kingston and Minister of National Defence, Norman McLeod Rogers, is killed
in a plane crash near the Ontario village of Newtonville, while en route to a
speaking engagement in Toronto. The 45-year old Rhodes Scholar was born in
Amherst, Nova Scotia. His memory will be honoured when the people of Kingston,
Ontario name an airport and a street for him.
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| Red indicates areas where the Axis Powers have their bases. |
June 10: Italy declares war on
France, Britain and their allies. By default, Canada is at war with Italy.
June 11: Princess Juliana of the
Netherlands arrives in Halifax with her two daughters. The heir to the Dutch
throne will choose Ottawa as her home and stay in the Dominion until the war
ends.
June 18: The National Resources
Mobilization Act passes Parliament today. It calls for the conscription of men
for home front duty. Many of the new soldiers will opt to volunteer for duty
overseas.
June 19: As the Nazis bomb
Britain relentlessly the British government begins to evacuate children to
Canada. Some 3,000 kids will arrive in Canada, Australia and New Zealand under
the government scheme; another 10,000 “Bundles from Britain” will be evacuated
privately. Executives at Ford of Canada will take more than 200 children of
Ford employees in the UK and welcome them into their homes until they can go
home in April 1944. Sadly, German bombs will kill 7,736 British children during
the war.
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| Hitler and his officials use the same railway car where the Germans surrendered to the French in 1918. |
June 24: Germany dictates the terms of surrender with France. Britain stands alone in
the face of Nazi tyranny with only her colonies behind her. No one knows where that leaves St. Pierre and
Miquelon, a tiny overseas territory of France, located off the coast of
Newfoundland.
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| Princess Margaret gets her arm tied into a sling by Princess Elizabeth as part of Girl Guides' training. |
July 3: King George VI announces
that Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret will not be evacuated to another
country for safety but will stay in Britain and help with the war effort on the home front.
July 4: Ottawa decrees the
Jehovah’s Witnesses to be an illegal organization, because the religion does
not allow its members to swear allegiance to any nation and forbids them to go
to war.
July 22: George Alexander Trebek
is born in Sudbury, Ontario. When he grows up he will graduate from the
University of Ottawa with a degree in Philosophy. The budding broadcaster will
cut his teeth at the CBC before moving to the US where he will become the host
of a TV quiz show called Jeopardy in
1984.
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| July 26:The Lord's Day Act declares Sunday to be a day of rest. People may not work and merchants must be closed. Mr. Mirsky lives in Ottawa. |
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| Spitfire fighter planes defend Britain. |
August 1: The Battle of Britain
begins as the Luftwaffe pounds the island nation with bombs night and day.
Eighty Canadian pilots take part in Britain’s defense, flying for the Royal Air
Force.
August 5: Montreal’s Mayor,
Camillien Houde, is arrested for sedition at 11 o’clock this evening as His
Worship leaves City Hall. The police have a warrant issued by the Federal
Minister of Justice. Houde is charged with opposing conscription and refusing to
turn over offices in City Hall to the federal government to be used for the
recruitment of soldiers.
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| Millions of Canadians wandered the country, looking for work in the Dirty 'Thirties. The Unemployment Insurance plan will prevent people from being homeless and starving in the future. |
August 7: The Unemployment
Insurance Act passes Parliament. This is not a welfare programme. Workers will
pay into the scheme and should they lose their jobs, they can draw against the
amount accumulated until they find another.
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| An Imperial Oil station in Edmunston, New Brunswick. |
August 8: Ottawa bans the
construction of new gas stations for the duration of the war.
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| Prime Minister Mackenzie King and President Roosevelt chat in Ogdensburg, New York. |
August 18: Canada and the United
States sign a joint defense agreement today. It includes an easing of
restrictions on delivery of weapons to Canada. It also details common road and
coastal defense strategies.
August 23: All German and Italian
immigrants who have not taken out citizenship papers and those who have
received them after September 1, 1922 are declared to be enemy aliens who must
report to the police. Certificates of Exemption may apply in individual cases
if the Registrar-General is satisfied that these immigrants are indeed loyal to
the Crown.
September: The CBC adopts its new
logo. It features radio transmission waves and a map of the Dominion. It will
serve well until it is replaced in 1958.
September: The 1941 automobiles
are on display at the National Automobile Show held on the grounds of the
Canadian National Exhibition at the Automotive Building in Toronto. The new
cars must vie for space with war machines on the 60,000-square metre floor as
GM and Ford dedicate half of their display area to the vehicles they are
building for the Dominion and Empire governments.
September 1: The first of many
thousands of German prisoners of war arrive in a prison ship that docks in
Quebec City. They will be interred in secret POW camps throughout the country.
September 2: Britain grants two
99-year military base leases in Newfoundland to the United States in exchange
for ships and other war materiel.
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| The Heinz factory in Leamington, Ontario is the largest food processing plant in the British Empire. |
September 12: Members of
Parliament meet with officials of Heinz Canada. Because an army travels on its
stomach, the trusted food giant will provide rations for Canadian and Empire
troops.
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| Grenfell is honoured with this stamp, issued in 1940. |
October 9: Sir Wilfred Grenfell
is dead at the age of 74. The great medical humanitarian spent 40 years
ministering to the needs of folks along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.
October 10: Berton Churchill is
dead in New York City at the age of 63. The Toronto native appeared in more
than 125 Hollywood movies and was instrumental in founding the Screen Actors
Guild in 1933. He is best remembered for his role in the 1939 movie Stagecoach.
November 20: The Canadian Red
Cross has granted an emergency gift of $2,500 to the Red Cross of Greece. It
will also donate another $2,500 worth of surgical and medical supplies.
December 14: Federal cabinet
minister C.D. Howe is on his way to the UK when U-boat 96 torpedoes the 10,926-tonne M.V. Western Prince.
The ship's cargo is base metals and food. Fifteen are dead and the 154 survivors are rescued by the Baron Kinnaird, a tramp steamer whose captain disobeyed orders and
returned to the site of the sinking vessel.
November 22: Specials this week
at The Farmer’s Trading Store in Calgary include two-pound packages of Sodone
Granulated Soap for 20 cents. Quaker Corn Flakes sells for 7 cents a package
while a 32-ounce jar of Miracle Whip costs 47 cents.
November 30: Interrupted by a disputed ruling over the admissibility Winnipeg Blue Bombers to play, this is the only year that the Grey Cup will be played twice. In the first
of two games this year, the Toronto Balmy Beach Raiders and the Ottawa Rough
Riders face off in Toronto.
December 7: The two football
teams go at it again, this time in the nation’s capital. Ottawa wins the Grey
Cup in an 8 to 2 victory.
December 29: Thomas Alexander
Russell is dead of heart failure . He was the guiding light behind CCM and the
luxurious Russell automobile that was built until 1916. At the time of his
death he was president of Massey-Harris Limited.
