Duties on Wheat, etc. Act 1843
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation6 & 7 Vict. c. 29

The Canada Corn Act was passed in 1843 by the British Parliament and allowed Canadian grains (then referred to as corn) to enter the British market at reduced duties.[1] The act was repealed in 1846.

History

Origins

British passage of the Importation Act 1815 – the Corn Law – impacted the market for Canadian grains by restricting their importation into Britain, despite the fact Canada was part of the British Empire.[2]

Enactment

The 1843 act was enacted to provide some relief to grain farmers in Upper Canada, by reducing the duty of Canada wheat imported into Britain to (a nominal) 1 shilling a quarter.[3]

The reduced tariff led to increasingly profitable shipping through the St. Lawrence route.[4] To attract business for shipping businesses in the United States, the American government responded by allowing Canadian grain bound for Britain to pass through the Erie Canal without import duties.[5]

The Act allowed for the importation to the UK of Canadian grain, be it processed or not. Accordingly, a trade sprung up in American grain, shipped to Canada for milling, and then on to the UK. This impetus caused a boom in the Canadian flour-milling industry.[6]

Repeal

After a short time, the advantages to Canada of the Corn Act were undone when British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel moved Britain towards free trade. A shortage of food caused by the Great Famine of Ireland created the need for cheap imported grain,[7] and the act was repealed in 1846.[8]

This was seen at the time as blow to Canada by abolition of the (effective) imperial preference the act had created;[9] the impact of the repeal to grain exports in practice, in the later 1840s and 1850s,[8] remains a subject of historical debate.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b D. L. Burn (January 1928). "V. Canada and the Repeal of the Corn Laws". Cambridge Historical Journal. 2 (3). Cambridge University Press: 252–272. doi:10.1017/S1474691300003528. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  2. ^ The National Review. W.H. Allen. 1905. pp. 871–873.
  3. ^ E Halevy, Victorian Years (London 1961) p. 42-3
  4. ^ William Edward Mann; Les Wheatcroft (1976). Canada: A Sociological Profile. Copp Clark Pub. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7730-2162-4.
  5. ^ William Thomas Easterbrook; Hugh G. J. Aitken (1988). Canadian Economic History. University of Toronto Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-8020-6696-1.
  6. ^ Denison 1955, p. 196
  7. ^ Roger E. Riendeau (2007). A Brief History of Canada. Infobase Publishing. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-4381-0822-3.
  8. ^ a b "Canada Corn Act". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  9. ^ G M Trevelyan, British History in the 19th Century (London 1922) p. 263

Sources

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