The Wartime Prices and Trade Board is a former Canadian government agency, established on September 3, 1939, by the Mackenzie King government, under the authority of the War Measures Act , in the Department of Labour responsible for price controls and inflation control.
The Board was established to avoid problems which happened during World War I. A chairman, Donald Gordon, was appointed in November 1941 and became a highly public figure at the time. He headed the agency, until April 1947. [1] It was organized into 13 regional offices, 100 local offices. This allowed inflation to rise by only 2.8% between 1941 and 1945, after rising by 17.8% in the previous two years -- the most successful reduction amongst all nations during the war. [2] On August 13, 1941, the Board moved from the Labour Department to the Department of Finance, according to Finance Minister James Ilsley, so that "Finance would be held responsible for inflation".[ citation needed ]
The scope of the Board's mandate was very broad, covering:
In 1942, the Board was charged with reducing non-essential industrial activity to minimum requirements, in order to help concentrate employment in more essential sectors. [3]
The board employed over 6,000 people (of which many of the public service administrators worked for only $1 a day), plus 16,000 women volunteers who were on Women's Regional Advisory Committees responsible for rationing, labeling, clothing conservation, housing shortages, and price checking. This latter initiative inspired the postwar creation of the Consumers' Association of Canada [4]
The Board's regulatory actions were compiled in a series of volumes during the wartime period:
Volume and period | Board Orders | Administrator's Orders |
---|---|---|
Volume 1 (1939–1942) | Nos. 1–223 | Nos. A-1 to A-538 |
Volume 2 (January–June 1943) | Nos. 224–290 | Nos. A-539 to A-794 |
Volume 3 (July–December 1943) | Nos. 291–355 | Nos. A-795 to A-1055 |
Volume 4 (January–June 1944) | Nos. 356–413 | Nos. A-1056 to A-1271 |
Volume 5 (July–December 1944) | Nos. 414–473 | Nos. A-1272 to A-1500 |
Volume 6 (January–June 1945) | Nos. 474–528 | Nos. A-1501 to A-1675 |
Volume 7 (July–December 1945) | Nos. 529–600 |
Though initially the popularity of the Board was high, gradually, it lost some popularity. Violations of regulations amounted to $1,780,000 in total fines and 253 incarcerations. [5]
The board was abolished in 1951, upon the lapse of the Continuation of Transitional Measures Act, 1947. [6] [7]
The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money and rents after the outbreak of World War II.
The War Measures Act was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could thereby be taken. The Act was brought into force three times in Canadian history: during the First World War, Second World War, and the 1970 October Crisis.
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time. There are many forms of rationing, although rationing by price is most prevalent.
Sir Richard Stafford Cripps was a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat.
Incomes policies in economics are economy-wide wage and price controls, most commonly instituted as a response to inflation, and usually seeking to establish wages and prices below free market level.
Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton,, was an English businessman and politician who served as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1946 to 1955.
Price controls are restrictions set in place and enforced by governments, on the prices that can be charged for goods and services in a market. The intent behind implementing such controls can stem from the desire to maintain affordability of goods even during shortages, and to slow inflation, or, alternatively, to ensure a minimum income for providers of certain goods or to try to achieve a living wage. There are two primary forms of price control: a price ceiling, the maximum price that can be charged; and a price floor, the minimum price that can be charged. A well-known example of a price ceiling is rent control, which limits the increases that a landlord is permitted by government to charge for rent. A widely used price floor is minimum wage. Historically, price controls have often been imposed as part of a larger incomes policy package also employing wage controls and other regulatory elements.
The Minister of Food Control (1916–1921) and the Minister of Food (1939–1958) were British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture. In the Great War the Ministry sponsored a network of canteens known as National Kitchens. In the Second World War a major task of the Ministry was to oversee rationing in the United Kingdom arising out of World War II. The Minister was assisted by a Parliamentary Secretary. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Food and Animal Welfare (2018–present) was appointed at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ensure the continued supply of sufficient food during the Brexit process.
Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war.
The term "home front" covers the activities of the civilians in a nation at war. World War II was a total war; homeland military production became vital to both the Allied and Axis powers. Life on the home front during World War II was a significant part of the war effort for all participants and had a major impact on the outcome of the war. Governments became involved with new issues such as rationing, manpower allocation, home defense, evacuation in the face of air raids, and response to occupation by an enemy power. The morale and psychology of the people responded to leadership and propaganda. Typically women were mobilized to an unprecedented degree.
The economic history of Australia traces the economic history of Australia since European settlement in 1788.
The United States home front during World War II supported the war effort in many ways, including a wide range of volunteer efforts and submitting to government-managed rationing and price controls. There was a general feeling of agreement that the sacrifices were for the national good during the war.
The First Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1935 to 1949. Responsible for the realisation of a wide range of progressive social reforms during its time in office, it set the tone of New Zealand's economic and welfare policies until the 1980s, establishing a welfare state, a system of Keynesian economic management, and high levels of state intervention. The government came to power towards the end of, and as a result of, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and also governed the country throughout World War II.
The Wartime Labour Relations Regulations, adopted under the War Measures Act on 17 February 1944, were introduced in Canada during World War II by the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Drafted loosely on the American Wagner Act, it was the first federal legislation in Canada to legally protect the formation of unions and to force employers to negotiate with organized workers. It was a foundational framework for legislation of union rights in Canada. The provisions of the order were later replicated by Acts of all the provincial legislatures.
The National Resources Mobilization Act, 1940 was a statute of the Parliament of Canada passed to provide for better planning of a much greater Canadian war effort, both overseas and in military production at home.
The CC41 Utility logo was an identifying mark of products produced and sold as part of the British Government's Second World War Utility Clothing Scheme.
The Utility Clothing Scheme was a programme introduced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. In response to the shortage of clothing materials and labour due to wartime austerity, the Government's Board of Trade put the Utility Clothing Scheme in place in order to standardise the production, sale, and purchase of clothing in wartime. The Scheme embodied a variety of measures to ensure the availability of fabric, clothing, and shoes, which were proposed to ensure availability, no matter of the consumer’s socioeconomic circumstances.
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one person's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.
The National War Labor Board, commonly the War Labor Board, was an independent agency of the United States government, established January 12, 1942, by an executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the purpose of which was to mediate labor disputes as part of the American home front during World War II.
The United Kingdom home front during World War II covers the political, social and economic history during 1939–1945.