Date Published:
June 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Trade Exhibitions in Canada

[This article was written in the 1930's and published in 1948; for the precise citation, see the end of the document.]

Exhibitions. The idea of stimulating trade by exhibiting merchandise goes far back in human history. The markets and fairs of mediaeval Europe were partly based on this idea. But the industrial exhibitions of the present day date only from the modern era. The first industrial exhibition held in Canada appears to have been that held by the Intendant Hocquart in 1737, when the products of New France were displayed, and were later sent to France. In British Canada, the first industrial exhibitions on any considerable scale date from the middle of the nineteenth century. The Canadian National Exhibition at Toronto owes its origin to an exhibition of Upper Canadian products held at Toronto in 1846. Since that date many cities and towns in Canada have adopted this method of advertising the resources of the districts in which they are situated; and a number of these exhibitions are now annual. Canadian products have also been displayed at many international exhibitions, such as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London (1851), the World's Fair at Chicago (1893), and the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley (1924-5).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 306.