Temperance legislation of general application had been enacted by the various colonies as early as 1855, when New Brunswick implemented total prohibition to mixed success.
[3] The Act proved to be problematic in its operation following the division of the Province into Ontario and Quebec.
In Ex parte O'Neill, RJQ 24 SC 304,[4] it was held that the Legislative Assembly of Quebec could not repeal the Dunkin Act, but it could pass a concurrent statute for regulating liquor traffic within the province.
[7] The Parliament of Canada shortly followed afterwards with the passage of the Scott Act, which offered local option within a national scheme,[8] followed in 1883 by the McCarthy Act, named after its sponsor, Dalton McCarthy, and its national licensing system.
[8][d] In 1917, provision was made to suspend the operation of the Act if provincial temperance legislation was determined to be as restrictive in application.