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".
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:
| Board Orders | width=200 | Administrator's Orders | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume 1 (19391942) | Nos. 1223 | Nos. A-1 to A-538 | |
| Volume 2 (JanuaryJune 1943) | Nos. 224290 | Nos. A-539 to A-794 | |
| Volume 3 (JulyDecember 1943) | Nos. 291355 | Nos. A-795 to A-1055 | |
| Volume 4 (JanuaryJune 1944) | Nos. 356413 | Nos. A-1056 to A-1271 | |
| Volume 5 (JulyDecember 1944) | Nos. 414473 | Nos. A-1272 to A-1500 | |
| Volume 6 (JanuaryJune 1945) | Nos. 474528 | Nos. A-1501 to A-1675 | |
| Volume 7 (JulyDecember 1945) | Nos. 529600 |
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]