https://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/progressive-era.

cfm
Historical Context:
Response to economic/social problems from the grown industrialization
presented in America.
Social movement to political movement
Rejected Social Darwinism the idea of survival of the fittest and those who
were best adapted were those who survived in society through a
capitalist/laissez-faire system
o Heavy racial bias; embraced by the Nazis heavily
Progressivism is the idea that the social problems in society faced (poverty,
violence, greed, racism, class welfare) could be solved by providing adequate
education, safe environment, efficient workplace
o Government was their tool for change
o Fought against the Rightest groups who focus on greed and for the fear
of immigrants and the true definition of democracy.
Fought political corruption and ensure issues were addressed
Gained voice through President Theodore Roosevelt of 1901.
Vision for The Future:
A vision for the future that Progressives aim is to follow a basis that involves
equality.
o In this photo shown, it shows an advertisement from a party in Australia
called the Australian Progressives. One of their aims for the future was
to produce a progressive community in one which, like all great
communities, is built on shared values, trust, and effective leadership.
o The main goals showed to get individuals apart of the community and be
self-assured the government reflected the common good for the
collective.
o Progressive looks to resolve global imbalances and look into fairness for
all.
Progressives, with looking into equality and individual rights, would also look
into movements for economic justice.
o This could include increases to minimum wage, proper working
conditions, adequate break times, and laws permitting only a certain
amount of hours to work a day.
o Additionally, the elimination of differences of wage based on colour,
sexuality, gender, religion, etc.
o Justice is the main focus for the future.

Aspects Supporting
Liberal Party of Canada
o With the Liberal Party of Canada in power, Progressives would support
the Partys ideology as they would have more of a modern liberalism
idea where there is government action to achieve equal opportunity and
equality for all. They would promote socialism, similar to progressives,
as they aim to solve problems in the nation through government
involvement and to give people a louder voice.
Aspects Progressives would change about Canada
If the Conservatives were still in power of Canada, it would be against
Progressivism ideology
o Similar to classical liberalism, they believe in personal responsibility,
limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and to go back to
traditional values. This ideology focuses on more freedom on the
individual to resolve their own problems with less government
involvement. This ideology would oppose the Liberal Party of Canada and
Progressivism as it doesnt support the idea to have the government
involved on individual issues.
Income inequality
o Based on a statistics study, it appears there was a drastic difference in
income when the Canadian government changed from Liberals to
Conservatives in 2006. In 2012, they performed a study on how much
Canadians earn. They were split into four classes:
o The top 1%, which had an income of about 3 hundred thousand dollars
o The top 10%, which had about 107 thousand dollars
o The top 50%, 44 thousand dollars
o The bottom 50%, which had 14 thousand dollars.
o The large discrepancy proved to be a big concern for progressives, and
would hopefully look into changing it into a more equal system with the
new Liberal party.
Sweatshops
o Although not prevalent inside Canada directly, many of our products
imported from major companies use sweatshops in other countries in
order to save money. Companies include: Adidas, Nike, Burberry, WalMart, Disney, Nestle, and many more. They promote many hazardous
working conditions that progressives fight to be against. Many labor laws
would be violated if it was in Canada, however because it is located in
more rural areas, they can use the poor to work long working hours
under poor conditions. With that, Progressives would fight to enforce
more laws that ban sweatshop-based clothing to be imported at all.