Royal Commission on Banking and Currency in Canada : The Royal Commission on Banking and Currency in Canada was established under Order in Council P.C. 1562, 31 July 1933, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1927 c.99) and on the recommendation of the Acting Prime Minister. The Commission was mandated to inquire and report upon: (a) the operation of the banking system of Canada, and the provisions and working of the Bank Act, the Dominion Notes Act, the Finance Act, and the Currency Act; (b) whether to establish a central banking institution; (c) Canada's monetary system, particularly commodity price movements and international exchange fluctuations; (d) whether Canada's monetary system may be modified and developed to allow intra-imperial and international cooperation in policies designed to promote the revival of trade, the increase and stability of employment and the raising of the level of commodity prices; and (e) revising or supplementing existing legislation or for adopting other measures that would promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada. The commissioners were Hugh Pattison Macmillan, chairman; Charles Stewart Addis, William Thomas White, John Edward Brownlee and Beaudry Leman. The secretary was Bennet John Roberts.
Under the Bank Act (13-14 Geo. V, c.32, 1923) the charters of the Canadian banks were due to expire on 1 July 1933. The Bank Charters Continuation Act (23-24 Geo. V, c.23, 1932-1933), however, renewed the charters to 1 July 1934. Since the enactment of the first general Bank Act (34 Vict., c.5, 1871) the legislative practice had been to renew the charters of the banks at decennial intervals. This method enabled Parliament to review and revise the national banking system according to prevailing economic and social conditions. Because the adequacy of various financial institutions had been called into question by the Great Depression, the government decided that an inquiry of the country's banking system should be undertaken before Parliament dealt with the renewal procedure (See Report of the Royal Commission on Banking and Currency in Canada, 1933, Ottawa: King's Printer, 1933, p. 10). Hearings of the Commission were held in Saint John, Halifax, Charlottetown, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria from 8 August to 15 September 1933. The commission received 196 submissions. RG33-17 General Inventory
