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Maritime Union (french: Union des Maritimes) is a proposed political union of the three
Maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Pri ...
provinces of Canada A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island – to form a single new province."Senators revive Maritime union proposal"
'' Toronto Star'', November 30, 2012.
This vision has sometimes been expanded to a proposed Atlantic Union, which would also include the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The idea has been proposed at various times throughout Canadian history. Most recently, it was reintroduced in November 2012 by Stephen Greene, John D. Wallace and Mike Duffy, three
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
Senators from the region. As of 2012, a union of the three Maritime provinces would have a population of approximately 1.8 million, becoming the fifth largest by population, out of eight remaining Canadian provinces. The Maritime provinces already cooperate to jointly provide some government services, especially in the areas of purchase and procurement.


History

Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick were administered as parts of Nova Scotia, until 1769 and 1784, respectively. The region, at the time of French colonization, was referred to in its entirety as
Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early 18t ...
. After Acadia fell to the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
, following the Seven Years' War (what is today known as the
Nova Scotia peninsula The Nova Scotia peninsula is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of North America. Location The Nova Scotia peninsula is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada and is connected to the neighbouring province of New Brunswick through th ...
had been in British possession post-1713), the entire region was amalgamated into a single colony named Nova Scotia. During the 1760s, the British split St. John's Island (the present-day Prince Edward Island) into a separate colony. By the 1780s, with the influx of Loyalist refugees from the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, the disparate geographic regions that comprised Nova Scotia were again split into separate colonies. St. John's Island, New Brunswick and
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...
all received autonomy with their respective colonial administrations and capitals. By the 1820s, Cape Breton Island was re-merged into Nova Scotia to free up that island's lucrative
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dead ...
resource royalties, however the remaining two colonies of Prince Edward Island (renamed as such from St. John's Island in the 1790s) and New Brunswick maintained their colonial autonomy. During the late 1840s, Nova Scotia became the first colony in British North America to have responsible government and by the mid-1850s, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had undergone similar political reforms. The reorganisation of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia into a single British colony was considered in 1863 and 1864 by Arthur Hamilton Gordon, the
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick The lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (, in French: ''Lieutenant-gouverneur'' (if male) or ''Lieutenante-gouverneure'' (if female) ''du Nouveau-Brunswick'') is the viceregal representative in New Brunswick of the , who operates distinctly wi ...
. The concept of a political union was formally discussed at the
Charlottetown Conference The Charlottetown Conference (Canada's Conference) was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for representatives from colonies of British North America to discuss Canadian Confederation. The conference took place between September 1 thro ...
in 1864 when Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were individual colonies in
British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
, but that meeting resulted in Confederation of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the
Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...
, not just of the Maritime colonies or Newfoundland. The '' Saint John Telegraph-Journal'' in 1925 stated that the idea "could become an intensely practical issue", but "we should concentrate of Maritime co-operation for Maritime advancement." The idea has been raised from time to time during the 20th century, particularly during the late 1990s in the face of declining regional transfer and equalization payments from the federal government. The discussion was quietly encouraged by politicians in other provinces with the hopes of using such a union to alter the balance of representation in the federal House of Commons and the Senate, based on the belief that the Maritimes are over-represented for their relatively small populations. In 1990, Nova Scotia Premier John Buchanan stated that if Quebec were to secede from Canada, separating English-speaking Canada into two parts, the Atlantic provinces would be "absurd" to try to form their own country and that there would be "no choice" but to seek to join the United States. Although he retracted his statement after criticism, in 2001 an American author similarly stated that as the Maritime provinces require substantial transfer payments from Ottawa they would not be a viable independent country. He speculated they might combine, with or without Newfoundland, to make themselves more attractive for admission into the United States as a single state.


Regional cooperation

Support for a union of the three provinces has historically ebbed and flowed, in conjunction with various socio-economic and political events throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In the immediate years following Confederation, the anti-Confederate movement in the region advocated Maritime Union and separation from the new federation, fearing that the wealth of the provinces would be sapped to support development and growth of central and western Canada. The concept gained credibility in the 1960s at a time when Maritime governments, in partnership with the federal government, were progressively tackling economic underperformance with various regional development programs. The growth of civil service and social program expenditures in the three provinces, coupled with out-migration and declining national political clout, led the provincial governments to examine ways to pool resources and better lobby for the region in Ottawa. While an actual union was debated in all three provinces, the discussion evolved largely around regional cooperation. Several meetings between all members of the legislative assemblies and the cabinets of the three provinces were conducted during the 1960s, with the result being several important regional cooperation agreements in the areas of health care, post-secondary and secondary education, and in regional intergovernmental coordination, particularly when dealing with Ottawa. Several institutions were formed by the early 1970s to facilitate intra-regional cooperation, including the Council of Maritime Premiers, and various organisations such as the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission and the Land Registry Information Service. During this time, the secondary school curriculum in each province was standardised and provincial funding to post-secondary education was coordinated to eliminate duplication, particularly among professional programs (i.e. education, law, engineering, medicine, pharmacology, dentistry, social work, criminology, veterinary medicine, etc.). Equally important to the establishment of these formal organisations was the coordination by the mid-1970s among provincial governments for legislation to harmonise policies and programs, as well as to arrive at common positions on federal-provincial negotiations. By the 1980s, the Council of Maritime Premiers was renamed the Council of Atlantic Premiers with the entry of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador into the partnership. The CAP has led all four provincial governments to extend cooperation in the adoption of common consumption taxes, insurance legislation harmonisation, the
Atlantic Lottery Corporation The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) (French: Société des loteries de l'Atlantique), branded as simply Atlantic Lottery or Loto Atlantique, is a Canadian organization that provides government-regulated and responsible lottery products in Atlan ...
, venture capital funding, a
harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Austral ...
commission, and the coordination of provincial government procurements, among other items. In addition to historical precedent, there were more pressing reasons to reorganise the colonies. The United States, embroiled in the Civil War, posed a military threat. Many prominent colonial politicians felt that the united colonies would be able to mount a more effective defence. In Britain, the Colonial Office also favoured a reorganisation of British North America. The British hoped that union would make the colonies less reliant on Britain, and therefore less costly to maintain. Gordon's own ambition may also have been a factor—he envisioned himself as the governor of the united Maritime colonies. The idea of Maritime Union—the reorganisation of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia into a single British colony—was not new. Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick had once been administered as parts of Nova Scotia, until 1769 and 1784, respectively. Several of Lieutenant-Governor Gordon's predecessors, including J. H. T. Manners-Sutton, had also favoured reuniting the three colonies.


Acadia and "New Acadia"

There are several convergent—unique, historically related, and ultimately intertwined—movements for a limited form of sovereignty and independence, stemming from the New Brunswick region of Canada but ultimately encompassing the whole of the
Atlantic provinces Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
and even the northeastern corner of the United States. "Acadians" traditionally refers to a community mainly in New Brunswick that is linguistically French, but is a distinct culture from Quebec. There have been proposals for Acadia to separate from New Brunswick and become a separate province. This was promoted by the
Parti Acadien The Parti Acadien was a political party in New Brunswick, Canada in the 1970s and 1980s. The party was founded in 1972 by Acadians who were upset over poorer living conditions in predominantly francophone areas of the province versus those areas d ...
and is similarly represented by the historic "
Republic of Madawaska The Republic of Madawaska (french: République du Madawaska, link=no) was a putative republic in the northwest corner of Madawaska County, New Brunswick (also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle") and adjacent areas of Aroostook County in t ...
". There is limited support for this idea, and drawing the borders of a separate Acadian province would be difficult, as Acadians are dispersed throughout the province as well as in smaller numbers in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec's
Magdalen Islands The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundlan ...
and the U.S. state of Maine. To help solve this dilemma, in 2007, '' Second Vermont Republic'' essayist Thomas H. Naylor proposed a "New Acadia" which would encompass "Vermont... Maine, New Hampshire, and the four Atlantic provinces of Canada" The Atlantica Party was created in 2006 to fulfill a similar purpose, of uniting Atlantic Canadians under a common banner and government. However, the party failed to gain any ground or make any significant impact on the political scene in Atlantic Canada. A trade zone uniting the region along these lines has also been formally proposed by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies and the Atlantic Growth Network (organisations based in Halifax, Nova Scotia) with the support of the
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency In Canada, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) are the seven federal government agencies responsible for addressing key economic challenges and furthering economic development, diversification, and job creation specific to their respective re ...
, a government agency. Together, they have hosted regular regional conferences promoting the Atlantica trade zone, beginning in 2002 through the last major conference, June 11-June 16, 2007, in Halifax. However, the proposal was also criticised by political activists, most notably
Maude Barlow Maude Victoria Barlow (born May 24, 1947) is a Canadian author and activist. She is a founding member of the Council of Canadians, a citizens' advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the Blue ...
of the
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, as little more than a regional prototype for a future
North American Union The North American Union (NAU) is a theoretical economic and political continental union of Canada, Mexico and the United States, the three largest and most populous countries in North America. The concept is loosely based on the European Union, ...
.


Gauging support

Within the Maritimes, support for the concept of a formal political union of the three provinces has historically been extremely difficult to quantify by pollsters and politicians. Many Maritimers express support for reducing government expenditures through greater regional cooperation, as in such existing cases as the
Maritime Film Classification Board The Maritime Film Classification Board is a government organization responsible for reviewing films and granting film ratings in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (in some theatres in Newfoundland and Labrador however, it is the M ...
and the
Atlantic Lottery Corporation The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) (French: Société des loteries de l'Atlantique), branded as simply Atlantic Lottery or Loto Atlantique, is a Canadian organization that provides government-regulated and responsible lottery products in Atlan ...
. However, when it comes to actually consolidating the bureaucracies of the three provinces (or four if one counts Newfoundland and Labrador in a larger Atlantic Union), the support dwindles as residents of individual provinces do not wish to see the public sector benefit one particular province over the other. There is allegedly some support in urban regions as these regions would stand to gain both politically and economically, however mistrust of a formal political union runs deep in Prince Edward Island,
Cape Breton Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...
, and many parts of New Brunswick and rural Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Islanders do not wish to give up the freedom of having jurisdictional sovereignty and provincial powers in local control. Many Cape Bretoners harbour exceptionally deep-seated resentment toward mainland Nova Scotia which has benefited from a relatively strong economy in the Halifax area for many years, something which Cape Bretoners and rural Nova Scotians claim has occurred at their expense. A union with PEI and NB might dilute what remaining influence Cape Breton has on provincial affairs which could have a negative impact on the island. New Brunswickers express the same fears as Prince Edward Islanders, fearing the loss of jurisdiction, and as Cape Bretoners, fearing the dilution of influence over provincial affairs. Of particular concern is the possible linguistic and cultural dilution that the
Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...
community of New Brunswick would face – comprising over 30 percent of the New Brunswick population, cultural protections guaranteed to Acadians in officially bilingual New Brunswick could be compromised. Although both Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia have Acadian communities as well, both are much smaller and less proportionally significant. Additionally, many rural mainland Nova Scotians distrust the growing economic domination of Halifax and wish to maintain their remaining influence in provincial affairs.


Opinion polls

In May 1970, a
Gallup Gallup may refer to: * Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll * Gallup (surname), a surname *Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States ** Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New ...
poll among all Canadians asked if the Maritimes should become one province. The results were: 43.8% of respondents agreed, 37.9% disagreed, 18.1% were undecided and 0.3% had a qualified response.


Issues

A Maritime Union (or an Atlantic Union) would face significant political challenges in gaining broad acceptance across the region, particularly where the existing provinces trace their history since European settlement for several centuries. Entire regional identities, cultures, and economies have developed around the separate French and later British colonies, which constitute the Maritime provinces (or the Atlantic provinces, if Newfoundland and Labrador were to be included). The history of these political jurisdictions cannot be discounted lightly as Nova Scotia's legislature is the oldest seat of responsible government in the Commonwealth of Nations and Prince Edward Island has the second oldest legislative seat in Canada ( Province House) and was the site of the
Charlottetown Conference The Charlottetown Conference (Canada's Conference) was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for representatives from colonies of British North America to discuss Canadian Confederation. The conference took place between September 1 thro ...
. New Brunswick's legislature is the only officially bilingual assembly of the Maritimes. According to environmental historian Mark McLaughlin, the idea of a Maritime Union as suggested by
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
political leaders is a
neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
project with intent to facilitate natural resource extraction and deregulation. Several issues which would dominate any discussion of a theoretical Maritime Union include: * Capital city:
Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in 1 ...
, Fredericton and Halifax all have existing legislature buildings, political traditions and histories for their respective provinces, while the largest cities in the Maritimes are Halifax, Saint John and Moncton. Moncton, Sackville, and
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have been suggested as capitals due to their central locations. This issue would be most contentious, although the possibility of a rotating capital has been suggested, whereby the legislative buildings in each city could be used on a tri-annual basis. Inter-provincial rivalry would likely prove to be extremely contentious in any decision. * Provincial name: Again, a contentious issue in a region which cherishes its history. Several informal suggestions over the years (mainly by journalists) have included "Acadia", "New Acadia", "The Maritimes", and "New Ireland". * Official language: The Acadian and
Brayon Brayons, also called Madawaskayens, are a francophone people inhabiting the area in and around Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada, including some parts of northern Maine. In French, they are called or feminine as in ''Brayon culture'', o ...
linguistic communities in New Brunswick, and less-so in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, would demand official bilingualism which is currently in effect in New Brunswick. The Maliseet and
Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the north ...
Nations would also likely contest any linguistic debate. And, the Gaels might seek support for their language, as well as Deaf Maritimers who speak either
ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...
, LSQ, or/and
Maritime Sign Language Maritime Sign Language (MSL) is a sign language used in Canada's Atlantic provinces. Maritime Sign Language is descended from British Sign Language through the convergence of deaf communities from the Northeastern United States and the United K ...
. * Federal representation: Each of the three Maritime provinces has been guaranteed a minimum number of seats in the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commons i ...
and the Senate since it joined the Canadian Confederation (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 1867, Prince Edward Island in 1873), even though their relatively small populations (most notably Prince Edward Island's) have never strictly warranted them. It has been suggested that the existing representation guarantees might not be passed on to a united Maritimes. Additionally, a Maritime Union would presumably be represented at the nation's
First Ministers' meetings In Canada, a First Ministers' conference is a meeting of the provincial and territorial premiers and the Prime Minister. These events are held at the call of the prime minister. They are usually held in Ottawa. Though known as "First Minister ...
of the Prime Minister and provincial Premiers by only one voice instead of three or four.


References

{{Reflist


External links


Council of Atlantic Premiers (CAP)
Politics of New Brunswick Politics of Newfoundland and Labrador Politics of Nova Scotia Politics of Prince Edward Island Proposed provinces and territories of Canada History of the Maritimes