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Many
people believed that the First World
War had been the ‘war to end all
wars’. This view, combined with
budgetary restraints, led Canada to reduce
its military forces to fewer than 5000
full-time military personnel. For a time,
the Royal Canadian Navy consisted of
only two ocean-going ships while the
Royal Canadian Air Force, created in
1924, performed mainly civilian duties
such as aerial mapping and forestry protection.
There was little pay and even less equipment
for part-time military reservists.
During
the economic catastrophe brought by the
Great Depression of the 1930s, Canadians
worried more about their jobs and families
than the state of the armed forces. Without
obvious enemies, why spend scarce resources
on the military?
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