 The government did not give up on addressing the problem when it ended subsidies . It had previously commissioned a number of studies on the agricultural situation and related factors , and converted some of the results of these studies into legislation . The Debt Adjustment Act of 1923 was designed to adjust farmers ' debts to a level that they could actually pay , thus allowing them to carry on while still ensuring that creditors received as much as was feasible . In the words of University of Calgary professor David C. Jones , the bill offered " solace , but no real satisfaction " . According to Jones , Greenfield 's attempts to rescue southern Alberta from agricultural calamity were probably doomed to failure . Even so , Greenfield had called the situation his top priority , and his failure to bring it to a successful resolution cost him politically . 
