In 1952 and 1953, Dunn and the CAHA debated the financial merits of international tours by Canadian hockey teams and whether or not the tours created goodwill towards Canada. The CAHA chose not to participate at the 1953 World Championships since it struggled to finance the Canada men's national ice hockey team and because of persistent criticism by Europeans on the physical playing style of Canada. The CAHA settled on sending the senior B-level East York Lyndhursts as Canada's representative at the 1954 World Championships when it had become too expensive to fund a higher level team for an international tour. The Lyndhursts lost by a 7–2 score to the Soviet Union men's national ice hockey team and placed second at the World Championships, which led to public dissatisfaction and widespread media criticism of the CAHA in Canada.