In Lionel Daunais' song from 1954, La tourtière, he makes a passing remark about "Toronto and its margarine" when listing off various regions and their celebrated cuisines:
Si la France a ses rillettes
Son foie gras, ses crêpes Suzette
La Belgique a ses gaufrettes
Et Milan son escalope
L'Portugal a ses sardines
Toronto sa margarine
L'Espagne a ses mandarines
Et l'anglais son mutton chop
Mais nous on fait exception
Au diable l'importation.
My initial reaction was, "omg sick burn bro", but upon further reading on the fascinating history of the ban on margarine in Canada, I learned that by margarine's reception was actually positive amongst consumers when it was briefly unbanned in 1918-1922 (I can't find the source, at the moment). After the Canada-wide ban was lifted in 1948, it was deemed the regulation of margarine a provincial jurisdiction in 1950: Québec finally allowed its sale in 1961, much to the chagrin of dairy farmers.
Was Daunais' light-hearted (?) remark symptomatic of the low opinion Québecois had of the cuisine of their Anglo counterparts, perhaps more an expression of other cultural tensions at the time, or perhaps some sort of coded envy? In the period between 1948 and 1961, is there any information regarding the predominant opinion of margarine in Québec, and secondarily, the rest of Canada as it became more widely available?
Given Daunais' predilection for lighthearted folkloric songs, it likely was just a combination of finding a good rhyme in -ine and poking some light fun at Toronto's expense. Keep in mind that unlike the very multicultural Toronto of today, in the 50s the city still had a reputation as a bland bastion of WASPness. So, in essence, implying that it was the margarine of cities was on brand.
Note that AFAIK, Toronto had no special fondness for margarine, beyond the fact that it was available for sale there by 1954. If any place in Canada was associated with margarine, it was Newfoundland, previously the main source of bootleg margarine in Canada. They placed such importance on it that one of the key demands during negotiations for their joining Canada in the late 40s was that they be allowed to continue to manufacture margarine, through the ironically-named Newfoundland Butter Company.
But Daunais's verse didn't come from culinary snobbishness. Traditional french-canadian food reflected french-canadian economic conditions: it was peasant food, or working-class food, which by this point was strongly influenced by English and New England culinary traditions. Look at at the dishes the song mentions: ragoût de pattes (Pig feet stew), soupe au pois (pea soup) and the titular tourtière (meat pie). The culture that had to come up with the pouding chômeur (unemployment pudding) in the early 20th century wouldn't exactly be one to thumb its nose at an inexpensive butter substitute.
The banning of margarine in Québec after its federal unbanning was purely political. Not only because of the power the dairy industry in Québec, but also because it found a very sympathetic ear in the Premier's office. Arch-conservative Maurice Duplessis, in power from 44 until his death in 59, was an enthusiastic supporter of agriculture and the rural way of life, which were central to his accomplishments in office (electrification of the countryside, rural loan programs, drainage, rural road networks...). He was not shy about his margarine policy, even bragged about having the "courage" of taking that decision and urged Quebec consumers to make that small sacrifice to ensure the survival of local farmers. And though the margarine bill made even mere possession illegal, he chose to not prosecute it (how generous!), only its sale, which I'm sure came as a relief to people that owned secret stashes of illicit margarine for personal consumption. Realistically, Duplessis knew on which side his bread was buttered (no pun intended). Rural districts in Quebec were grossly over-represented electorally at the time, and his support among farmers helped him rattle off multiple majorities (even in 44, when he garnered less votes than his Liberal opponent).
Except that, of course, this was all purely political theater. The ban was completely ineffective, margarine was sold everywhere in Québec throughout the 50s and few people were ever even fined for it (and even if they were, they were likely reimbursed by manufacturers). The margarine question popped up periodically in the Quebec legislature in the 50s; during one of those debates in 56, an opposition MP stated that 8 million pounds of margarine had been sold in Québec in the past year. Clearly, the Duplessis government was either unwilling or unable to actually apply the ban.
Duplessis died in 59, Quebec elected a Liberal government in 1960, and the margarine ban was dropped in 61, to general indifference. Margarine continued to be widely sold in Québec, legally this time, though it stayed noticeably less popular than in the ROC. Later there was a different protracted legal struggle around margarine in Québec (around color this time), but this stretches into a period that would break the 20-year rule.
Overall, an impressively pointless amount of time and energy expended on a pretty dull product. Kinda like most of my Reddit posts.