Canada and the Cost of World War II: The International Operations of Canada’s Department of Finance, 1939-1947

Canada’s most famous contributions to the Allied victory in World War II include Dieppe, the campaign in Italy, the bombing missions over Germany, and D-Day. Much less known are Canada’s financial contributions to the war effort. In this sequel to his groundbreaking Maturing in Hard Times, legendary public servant Robert B. Bryce offers a first-hand account of the wartime activities of the Department of Finance during his formative years as its deputy minister from 1939-47. Bryce chronicles in splendid detail how the tiny and overburdened department in Ottawa worked behind the scenes to deal with the critical public policy challenges that accompanied World War II and postwar reconstruction. Canada’s financial aid made it possible for Britain to wage an effective war and deal with the destruction it wrought. Bryce details how Canada’s Department of Finance can also be credited with overcoming some of Britain’s most pressing balance-of-payments problems after the war.