TRANSCRIPT

Rationing, Salvaging, and Fundraising During the Second World War

With the men overseas, citizens on the homefront were required to ration goods and begin salvaging items. There where shortages of food and products and people were very careful not to waste anything. Government mandate rationing came into effect in Canada in 1942. Citizens were given ration books and tokens that were used to manage the distribution of items such as sugar, tea, butter, gas and meat. In Canada, 11 million ration books were distributed over the duration of the war. As the war progressed, rations such as meat and gas were increasingly important. The Canadian government started to add a purple dye to the farmer's gas to signify that it was not to be used in recreational vehicles, and people were fined if they were found with purple gas in their cars. In 1945, Donald Gordon, Head of Wartime Prices and Trade Board declared meatless Tuesdays and Fridays. Meat rations were much more generous in Canada than in Britain. Citizens were given little blue tokens to be exchanged for meat. All rations were to be protected because if lost they were un-replaceable and citizens would have been forced to go without until the following month.