A Maritime Union refers to a potential political union of the three Maritime provinces of Canada to form a single new province.

The concept of a Maritime Union was formally discussed at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864 when New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were individual colonies in British North America, however that meeting resulted in Confederation of all BNA colonies, not just the Maritimes.

The idea has been raised from time to time during the 20th century, largely as a theoretical exercise. The notion of a Maritime Union has been advanced particularly by economic neo-liberals in recent decades as a means to reduce the public sector, and hence equalization payments to the region.

History

The idea for Maritime Union is not a new one. The region, at the time of French colonization, was referred to in its entirety as Acadia. After Acadia fell to the British, following the Seven Years' War (what is today known as peninsular Nova Scotia had been in British posession post-1713), the entire region was amalgamated into a single colony named Nova Scotia.

During the 1760s, the British split St. John's Island (present-day Prince Edward Island) into a separate colony, only to merge it again with Nova Scotia several years later. By the 1780s, with the influx of Loyalist refugees from the American Revolutionary War, the disparate geographic regions that comprised Nova Scotia were again split into separate colonies. St. John's Island, New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island all received autonomy with their respective colonial administrations and capitals.

By the 1820s, Cape Breton Island was again merged back into Nova Scotia, however the remaining two colonies Prince Edward Island (renamed from St. John's Island in the 1790s) and New Brunswick maintained their colonial autonomy.

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 1800s and 1900s. 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 underperfermance 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 organizations 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 standardized and provincial funding to post-secondary education was coordinated to eliminate duplication, particularly among professional programs (ie. Education, Law, Engineering, Medecine, Pharmacaology, Dentistry, Social Work, Criminology, Veterinary Medecine, etc.).

Equally important to the establishment of these formal organizations was the coordination by the mid-1970s among provincial governments for legislation to harmonize 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 4 provincial governments to extend cooperation in the adoption of common consumption taxes, insurance legislation harmonization, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation , venture capital funding, a harness racing commission, and the coordination of provincial government procurements, among other items.

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, which is now being done, however when it comes to actually consolidating the bureaucracies of the three provinces (or 4 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 centres of the region, such as Halifax or Moncton, 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, 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 benefitted 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 would dillute 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 dillution of influence over provincial affairs. Of particular concern is the possible linguistic and cultural dillution that the Acadian community of New Brunswick would face - comprising over 1/3 the New Brunswick population, cultural protections guaranteed to Acadians in officially bilingual New Brunswick could be compromised.

Additionally, many rural mainland Nova Scotians distrust the growing economic domination of Halifax and wish to maintain their remaining influence in provincial affairs.

Issues

A Maritime Union (or an Atlantic Union) would face signficant political challenges in gaining broad acceptance across the region, particularly where the existing provinces trace their history since European discovery for several centuries. Entire regional identities, cultures, and economies have developed around the separate French and later British colonies, which comprise 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 British Commonwealth outside of the United Kingdom, with Prince Edward Island having the second oldest legislative seat in Canada (Province House) and the site of the Charlottetown Conference. And New Brunswick's legislature is the only officially bilingual legislative seat among any Canadian province.

Several issues which would dominate any discussion of a theoretical Maritime Union include:

• Capital city: Charlottetown, Fredericton and Halifax all have existing legislature buildings and political traditions and histories for their respective provinces. 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 "The Maritimes", "Acadia", "New Acadia", etc.

• Official language: The Acadian linguistic minority 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 Nations would also likely contest any linguistic debate, claiming eminent domain.