PRESS RELEASE

Maritime Independence and Canadian Union

June 2000, Halifax — Not long ago Quebec sovereigntists came within a hair's breadth of separating Atlantic Canada from the rest of the country. The exodus of English speakers from Quebec, and the growing number of young Quebecois of voting age with stronger separatist sentiments than their elders, make a separatist victory more likely next time.

New political trends will accelerate the movement towards Atlantic independence:

There has been a steady devolution of federal powers to the provinces which, according to former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, will break up Canada more surely than Quebec separatism.

The last federal election completely regionalized Canadian politics: The Reform Party captured the West; the Parti Quebecois took Quebec; the Liberals are confined to Ontario; the NDP captured most Nova Scotia seats. In effect, Canada no longer has national parties. Separatist rumblings are heard these days in British Columbia and Alberta as well as in Quebec, as westerners call for tax cuts and rail about their tax dollars supporting indigent Maritimers.

A widening economic gap is fueling tensions. Ottawa now boasts huge budget surpluses, achieved largely by cutting federal transfers to the provinces, while Nova Scotia struggles with massive deficits. With only 3% of the Canadian population, Nova Scotia took 15% of federal budget cuts in the 1990's. While Ottawa hires hundreds more bureaucrats, Nova Scotia is firing hospital staff and slashing vital front-line health services. All three Maritime premiers recently hammered Ottawa for its unfair treatment of this region.

In the 1860's, when Ontario and Quebec were mired in debt, the Maritimes were prosperous, sea-faring colonies, with no desire to join the proposed Canadian confederation. Despite elections in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick that produced strong anti-Canada majorities, pressure from Great Britain and the U.S. civil war pushed reluctant Maritimers into a confederation they did not want.

Maritime suspicions were warranted. The trans-Canada railway soon flooded the Maritimes with cheap goods from central Canada industries, forced Maritime industries out of business, and began an era of dependence that continues to this day. While popular sentiment portrays Atlantic Canada on the receiving end of the hand-out line, capital has actually long flowed out of this region.

Learning From Europe

The recent "Clarity Bill" passed by the House of Commons insisted that the next Quebec referendum pose a clear take-it-or-leave-it question to Quebecers. The Parti Quebecois rejected this simplistic ultimatum, and called for "sovereignty-association," like the European Union, as a model for Canada.

Like the European countries, the six regions of Canada could be sovereign, independent members of a cooperative economic and political union. Ottawa would become like Brussels, overseeing open borders, and friendly cooperation in trade, human rights, foreign and defence policy and monetary union. We are already moving in this direction.

Independence within a European Union-style Canada would spur the Maritimes to stand on their own economic and political feet with dignity, power and self-reliance, and make a tremendous contribution to Canada and the world. Relying on its own strength, the region would re-discover the power of its close-knit communities, its rich cultural and spiritual heritage, its caring, generous and decent social norms; its extraordinary natural beauty and resources; and its earthy creativity.

With a little help from Quebec, the Maritimes may well be the first place in the world to find itself independent without having asked for it, in keeping with the non-aggressive nature of its people. But standing proudly on its own feet, a decent human society in Atlantic Canada can spread out rapidly to a world failed by materialism, threatened by environmental collapse, and desperate for the alternative this region can demonstrate and offer.