Governor General George Byng’s (pictured above) throne speech on March 9, 1922 charted the government’s plan under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in the first session of Canada’s 14th Parliament.
At the time, farmers experienced low crop prices and insufficient trade opportunities. The government pledged to do more to export Canadian ag commodities.
Officials “have lost no time in seeking to gain more favourable conditions of sale and marketing for the products of the farm,” Byng said. “Communications have been opened with the authorities of other countries looking to an extension of trade and a widening of Canadian markets…”