Document Record

Creator

Canada. Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations.

Title

Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations fonds
Fonds de la Commission royale des relations entre le Dominion et les provinces

Identifier

lac_mikan_195
611
RG 33 23
R1102-0-4-E
R1102-0-4-F
Government
Politics and politicians
oocihm.lac_mikan_195

Document source

Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada

Language

English

Description

The Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations, also known as the Rowell-Sirois Commision (named after its successive chairmen, N.W. Rowell and Joseph Sirois), examined the Canadian economy and federal-provincial relations. It was called in 1937 and issued its report in 1940, and came about as a result of the Great Depression: under Confederation, the provinces were given responsibility for health care, education, and welfare when these responsibilities were relatively inexpensive as expenditures, but, by 1937, these areas now had a much higher cost associated with them. In fact, at the time, the federal government was primarily gathering money, while the provinces were spending large amounts of money. The Commission recommended that the federal government take over control of unemployment insurance and pensions. It also recommended that equalization payments be created so that the federal government would send large transfers of money to the provinces each year. Other recommendations were not adopted due to the fact that the country was embroiled in World War Two or there was resistance from various governments. Some recommendations were introduced on a piecemeal basis.
This collection consists of transcripts of hearings.
There appears to be a table of contents for the collection on most of the microfilm reels.

URL

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_195