Margarine was illegal in Canada until 1949.

Margarine was invented by a French chemist in 1869, as a cheap alternative to butter. However, the Canadian government completely banned the production, import, and sale of margarine between 1886-1949. The prohibition was briefly lifted from 1917 to 1922 under the War Measures Act but reinstated in 1923. The government’s official reasoning for the ban was to protect the health of the population. However there were various other reasons for the ban, including to protect consumers from fraudulent butter sales, as well, it protected the dairy industry, who had considerable lobbying power within the government.

In 1948, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the prohibition of margarine would be the responsibility of the province. All provinces except for Quebec and Prince Edward Island lifted the bans in 1949, with Quebec continuing the prohibition until 1961 and P.E.I until 1965. Adding yellow colour to the margarine was illegal in most provinces, except for B.C and Newfoundland, until the 1970’s. However, Ontario maintained the ban on adding colour to margarine until 1995. On the back of the cookbook, there is a photo of Good Luck Margarine in a boxed package, and one of the labels reads “New! Colour Mix Bag”. This colour mix bag, was provided separately, therefore it was in compliance with the provincial laws.  This cookbook was an attempt to promote margarine and teach the public how to use a relatively new product to Canada.