Clifford Sifton, Laurier's first Minister of the Interior, was fully aware that Britain could not supply huge numbers of agricultural immigrants. By 1900 Britain was an increasingly industrialised and urban society.

The kind of hardy agricultural workers likely to succeed in the Canadian west were only to be found in Scotland, the north of England and, to a lesser degree, the western counties and Wales. But advertising in the over-populated "mother country" was a political necessity. The British government wanted to relieve population pressures at home.

Sifton reorganised the existing network of Canadian agents in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Headquarters in London reported directly to the Minister. The immediate task was to make Canada better known throughout Britain, and a great opportunity arose in 1902, when King Edward VII came to the throne.