they "tried to make the best of a bad situation." He did not enjoy the position, and referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony". He opened the small local parliament on October 29, 1940, and they visited the 'Out Islands' that November, which caused some controversy because of on whose yacht they were cruising. The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when the Duke and Duchess planned to tour aboard a yacht belonging to a Swedish magnate, Axel Wenner-Gren, whom American intelligence wrongly believed to be a close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring. The Duke was praised, however, for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands, although he was as contemptuous of the Bahamians as he was of most non-white peoples of the Empire. He was also praised for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in June 1942, when there was a "full-scale riot," even though he blamed the trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft". The Duke resigned the post on 16 March 1945. Canadian garrison In April 1942 the United Kingdom asked Canada to provide military support in Nassau, in part to provide protection services to H.R.H. the Duke of Windsor. No. 33 company of the Veterans Guard of Canada was raised and arrived in June. No 33 company were relieved in 1943 by a company of The Pictou Highlanders. The Canadian garrison left Nassau in 1946 Post-World War II The wartime airfield became Nassau's international airport in 1957 and helped spur the growth of mass tourism, which accelerated after Havana was closed to American tourists in 1961. Freeport, on the island of Grand Bahama, was established as a free trade zone in the 1950s and became the Bahama's second city. Bank secrecy combined with the lack of corporate and income taxes led to a rapid growth in the offshore financial sector during the postwar years. Modern political development began after World War II. The first political parties were formed in the 1950s. The Progressive Liberal Party was formed in 1953, and the United Bahamian Party was formed in 1956. Bahamians achieved self-government in 1964, with Sir Roland Symonette, of the United Bahamian Party, as the first Premier. Sir Lynden O. Pindling, leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, became the first black