1931: Edmonton elects the Canadian Labour Party (CLP) candidate for mayor, Dan Knott, and a CLP majority on council, including Margaret Crang, Labour’s first woman councillor.
1930?: Farmers’ Unity League formed; farmers’ strikes begin (Taylor)
1932: Edmonton’s Hunger March on December 20 attracts 12,000 people, but is broken by a police riot ordered by provincial and civic officials.
1932: A meeting of socialists, farmers and trade unions is held in Calgary to form the Canadian Commonwealth Federation, precursor to the New Democratic Party (Finkel)
– Plumbers & Pipefitters in Edmonton lead strike of construction workers in Edmonton against wage roll-backs
– Federal government imposes relief camps policy
1934: Workers’ Unity League elects a full slate to the Blairmore Town Council
1933-6: Labour and political activists organize widespread resistance to relief camps; Calgary organization wins highest relief rates in Canada
1935: On-to-Ottawa trek stops in Calgary and Medicine Hat in June; enjoys community support and hospitality that the owners pay the mandated female minimum wage. Unemployed workers in Edmonton had been involved in a variety of strikes during the Depression, demanding better treatment from relief authorities. Many of them joined the “On to Ottawa Trek,” which called for the disbandment of the prison-like relief camps and for governments to guarantee workers a job and a living wage
1937: Packinghouse workers organize sit-down strikes in Calgary and Edmonton
1938: The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act legitimizes trade union organizing by providing for recognition of trade union contracts and establishing machinery for dealing with violations of labour laws.
1938 or 39: Pat Lenihan, Communist and trade union leader, is elected to Calgary City Council