Demonstrations — Protesting the Cost of Living
Title: Masquerading as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Ontario Premier Bill Davis, two protestors demonstrate against wage and price controls during the Labor Day Parade at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1976.
Photographer: Ron Bull
Date: September 6, 1976.
Context: Canadian workers were unhappy with the wage controls imposed on the country by Trudeau’s government. The Labor Day Parade on September 6th in Toronto was a show of support for the upcoming national protest in Ottawa on October 14, 1976.
Whereas Canadians in the 20th century frequently complained about the rising cost of living, complaints turned into protests in the late 1960s, a period known as The Great Inflation. As inflation continued to soar in the 1970s provincial and federal governments attempted to address the issue. Although Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau fought the 1974 election against the implementation of wage and price controls, with the cost of living steadily rising, his government enacted the Anti-Inflation Act to control wages and prices. Canadians were not happy with government action and demonstrated their discontent on the streets. The Anti-Inflation Act was repealed in 1979.
Title: A tobacco grower’s wife protests outside the Ontario Legislature in March, 1964.
Photographer: Norman James
Date: March, 1964
Context: In 1964, tobacco farmers protested low prices at tobacco auctions. They believed not only that the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board was in cahoots with tobacco buyers, but also that the “tobacco-cancer scare” and Ottawa’s anti-smoking campaign were ruining the market.
Title: War veteran Owen Shone, wearing a placard outlining the cost of living, pickets the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Toronto in 1969.
Photographer: Frank Teskey
Date: April 25, 1969
Title: Federal Opposition leader Robert Stanfield watches while rising unemployment figures are posted on a billboard in Toronto.
Photographer: Jeff Goode
Date: January 22, 1971
Context: Opposition leader Robert Stanfield argued for wage and price controls in the 1974 election. Prime Minister Trudeau won the election running on an anti-wage and price control platform, but implemented the policy in 1975 as inflation continued to rise.
Title: Toronto garment workers march down Spadina Avenue in 1974 demanding a cost of living increase in their wages.
Photographer: Jeff Goode
Date: October, 1974
Context: The workers explained that their standard of living was reduced by rising prices.