Oleomargarine and its Relation to Canadian Economics

Oleomargarine and its Relation to Canadian Economics

Margarine was illegal in Canada from 1886 until 1917, when the ban was temporarily lifted to compensate for the shortage of butter during World War I. This brochure, published in March 1923, argued for a renewal of the ban, as margarine posed a hazard to the Canadian economy: Love, Secretary for the Alberta Dairymen’s Association, noted that 41.2 per cent of margarine sold in Canada between 1917 and 1922 was imported from the United States, to the detriment of Canadian industry. Love also argued in the terms of health and nutrition. He reported that margarine manufacturers used secret formulae and poor quality fats, and he referred the reader to The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition, by E.V. McCollum: “If the reader could only see the difference between the two rats pictured opposite page 88 .… Subsequent to weaning, one was given 1.5% butter-fat in its diet and presents a picture of normal growth and health; the other was given 5% bleached cottonseed oil (cottonseed oil is one of the principal materials used in the manufacture of Oleomargarine, especially the cheaper grades) and its growth had been badly stunted and, besides, it had suffered loss of hair and emaciation” (7). The rat, seen here in the page from McCollum’s book, was deficient in Vitamin A. Replacing butter with margarine would only further hurt quality of life for the Canadian worker. Upsettingly, Love also referred to a study done at a Jewish Orphanage in New York, in which some children were fed margarine instead of butter, resulting in overall weight loss. With both economic and social arguments, his brochure was designed to appeal to Conservative and Labour supporters alike. And Love would have his way: the ban on margarine resumed in 1923, encouraged in large part by arguments from the dairy lobby. Margarine was finally legalized in Canada in 1948.

E.T. Love

1923