<Tr> <Th> Date assented to </Th> <Td> 1935 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Employment and Social Insurance Act was a statute, enacted by the Parliament of Canada in 1935, during the final months of the government of R.B. Bennett . The Act was intended to introduce a nationwide employment insurance scheme, and also to convince voters that Bennett was willing to intervene aggressively in the economy, as President Roosevelt had done in the United States with the New Deal . The Act was a key component of the program of interventionist laws known as "Bennett's New Deal ." </P> <P> In 1936, the Act was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada, as unemployment insurance was found to fall under one of the heads of power assigned by Canada's constitution to the provinces . The ruling of the Supreme Court was upheld by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1937 . The Employment and Social Insurance Act therefore failed to achieve its policy goal, as Canada was left for a time without unemployment insurance . </P> <P> In 1919 the Royal Commission on Industrial Relations, sometimes called' The Mathers Commission', recommended a national program of unemployment insurance . </P>

Who funded the unemployment insurance act in 1941