British and United States gold coins, government of Canada notes, and Canadian coins were legal tender. Bank notes ceased to be legal tender. However, the return was short-lived. Britain went off the gold standard in September 1931, during the depths of the Great Depression. Canada followed suit by prohibiting export of gold on October 31, 1931, unofficially taking Canada off the gold standard. A year and a half later, the federal government ended the convertibility of government notes for gold. It was expected to be a temporary measure until the world economic situation improved, but Canada has never returned to the gold standard. Establishment of the Bank of Canada Creation and functions of the Bank As the Great Depression continued in Canada, pressure grew on the federal government to take greater control over the economy, including monetary policy. Criticisms were levelled at the federal Treasury Board and Deputy Minister of Finance, who administered the Finance Act, suggesting that they were not sufficiently skilled in monetary policy. In response, the federal government in 1933 set up the Royal Commission on Banking and Currency to study the functioning of the Finance Act and to make recommendations about the establishment of a central bank.Powell, pp. 47–49. The commission, chaired by Lord Macmillan, reported later that year and recommended the establishment of a central bank, by a 3–2 division. The proposal had broad support from the two main political parties, but was opposed by the Canadian banks on monetary policy grounds, and also because of concern about loss of profits if they could no longer issue bank notes. The federal government acted on the recommendation and passed the Bank of Canada Act in 1934. It came into force on March 11, 1935. The Bank was given an array of powers, including custodian of the gold reserves of the government, lender of last resort to chartered banks, and issuer of notes on behalf of the government. The Dominion Notes Act and the Finance Act, which had assigned these functions to the Minister of Finance, were repealed. The Bank's mandate was summarised in the Preamble to the Act: WHEREAS it is desirable to establish a central bank in Canada to regulate credit and currency in the best interest of the economic life of the nation, to control and protect the external value of the national monetary unit and to mitigate by its influence fluctuations in the