The Maritime Rights Movement is usually seen as part of the economic decline of post world war period in the Maritimes. The Maritimes were going through hard times, the depression was said to have started in the Maritimes ten years before the rest of Canada did in 1929. The Movement had the Maritimes economic and social needs as its priorities. The Maritimes views were often contradictory to those of West and Central parts of Canada. The Movement strove to alleviate some of the stress on the Maritimes economy, especially in the midst of hard times after the war. The Movement was seen as an opportunity for Maritimers to stand together for their own interests as Eastern Canadians.
In retrospect, most see the movement as a plea for separation, but this was usually not the case. The Period Leading into the Movement In reference to the rest of Canada at the time, the Maritimes were a region with less of an advantage in fields such as the economy, employment and business. At the time the Central and Western areas of Canada were much more populated then the Maritimes. This often this correlated with better economy, employment, and other fields that the Maritimes were weak in. Since the time of Confederation, the Maritimes economy had been on a steady downfall. This was a huge strain on the labor force. Most of the potential employees in the Maritime region were leaving, going to Central and Western Canada for better life and employment .
Going into the 1920s the Maritimes were loosing the bulk of its laborers to other parts of Canada with better economy. This created problems for the Maritimes. The first main problem has to do with the population of the Maritimes. With all of the workers from the Maritimes leaving, the population is dropping. The odd thing is that the overall population of the Nation at this time is growing, while the population of the Maritimes is actually falling. What this translates into is the fact that the population in the rest of Canada was actually growing faster then the population of the Maritimes was dropping. This problem creates a problem in its self, as can be seen in the impact felt in both politics and the economy .
The Essay on Population and Economy
Before seventeenth century the world population increased very slowly i.e,it has been estimated that by 1650 the population had doubled since the year to about 500million.Over the following 200years the rate of increase was much faster ,so that by 1850 the population had more than doubled to 1200million.After that, the population growth accelerated so rapidly that people talked about a population ...
Instead of the Maritime economy advancing, most of our workers left, and thus helped Canadas Western and Central economies increase . When it came to politics the policy was representation by population. Based on this reason one can see that the Maritimes was at a disadvantage again. As was mentioned, the population of the Maritimes was falling while that of the rest of Canada was growing. This meant that the Maritimes were only representing about a fourth of the seats in the House of Commons. As Central and Western Canadian population rose, more seats were added to the House for them.
In addition to this the Maritime population was actually falling, thus leading to seats in the House being taken away from the Maritimes. The situation was giving the Maritimes a serious political disadvantage on the Federal level compared to the rest of Canada . In the Maritimes both major political parties (the Conservatives and the Liberals) said that they would fight for Maritime Rights. However what was promised was often not achieved. Based on our political disadvantage neither was able to do much at the Federal level when they were elected. Every time elections came around both parties were quick to support the issue of Maritime Rights.
Promises were often made by both parties to increase awareness of the Maritimes needs to the Federal Government. These promises almost always faded after election time . One example has to do with the William Lyon Mackenzie King of the Liberal party. He ran for a seat on Prince Edward Island, and was elected. This was mainly due to the fact that he was preaching to support Maritime Rights. This all changed when he became prime minister. He was not able to push for Maritime Rights due to the fact that the West had the majority of the seats, and thus the majority of the influence in the House (and the Federal Government).
The Essay on Canadas Health Care Canadians Party Canada
Today, Canadians are concerned with many issues involving health care. It is the responsibility of the provincial party to come up with a fair, yet reasonable solution to this issue. This solution must support Canadians for the best; it involves people and how they are treated when in need for health care. The Liberal party feels that they have the best solution that will provide Canadians with ...
This is not to say that Mackenzie King did nothing for the Maritimes. After extensive pressure from the Maritimes he set up the Duncan commission, which I will look at more detail later, to look into the complaints of the Maritime region (especially in reference to the economy) . At the time there was a three party system in the West of Canada. The Prairies had elected grass roots political parties to fight against the so-called unjust treatment of the Western Prairies . The Maritime movement was different from the progressive movement in the West. The Maritimes saw no need for such a system. The Conservatives and the Liberals were already concerned with Maritime Rights, and a third party was not needed.
However there were some extremists who took the idea of Maritime Rights to a new level. These extremists tried to form a third political party. The main goal of this group was to create a party that was totally in the interests of achieving Maritime Rights by separating from the rest of Canada. The party was never able to really take off. The idea of separation was not what most Maritimers wanted. Instead most of the Maritimers wanted help to achieve equality with the rest of Canada, not to separate from them . The Rights Movement and Its Issues The real start of the Maritime Rights Movement was in the beginning of the twentieth century.
The Movement reached its peak after the First World War. After the war the Maritimes were starting to show signs economic recession. Some argued that this recession had started before this, but after the war it was even more evident. This was a very bad time for the Maritimes. Many Maritimers had to uproot and leave their homes and many businesss closed as a result of the recession. At the time the freight rates were high and this was a further detriment to the Maritime economy. To make things worse, more business went to the places such as the New England area, where the rates at port were cheaper then in the Maritimes .
Many Maritimers tried to keep up a satisfactory life in the area but the harsh reality was that most families who moved to the West or the United States had a better off. It was problems like these that brought about the issue of Maritime Rights. Maritimers wanted their problems heard, and it was the Movement that was to speak for Maritimers as a united region in despair . The Movement started to reach out in many ways. Things like pamphlets, papers, rallies and more started to become the voice of the Rights Movement. People who were active to get the Maritimes Rights Movement often tried to educate other Maritimers on the situation at hand .
The Essay on Canada In The Global Economy
Over the past few years, Canada's economy has done comparatively well and has demonstrated some resilience to the fluctuating global economy. However, Canada remains to be relatively less competitive with respect to other developed countries. In this paper I will attempt to take a closer look at Canada's position in the global economy today and examine the relevant issues. Competition is an ...
This was a sort of propaganda drive to attract other Maritimers to the cause . One of the main reasons that the Maritime Rights Movement began had to do with lack of sufficient funding from the Federal Government to the Maritimes. This problem was multiplied by the fact that Maritimers realized they were in a disadvantaged position in reference to the rest of Canada, but the rest of Canada often did not notice this reality. In the period before confederation it was usually the case that the Maritimes were economically more disadvantaged then the West. Now after Confederation, and the start of the twentieth century, Maritimers see that the situation is not improving. Now the case is even worse, many thought (and had just reasons to believe) the Government was actually ignoring the Maritimes in favor to the West .
The problem of representation by population was getting worse. With the West holding the majority of the seats in the House, the requests of Western Canada were often given priority to those of the Maritimes (Eastern Canada).
Also with the increasing population in Central Canada the economy was on a bit of a rise. Canada as a whole was very dependent on the economy of Central Canada, and it was often the case that concerns about the Maritime economy were passed over in light of this. It often seemed that the concerns and problems of Central and Western Canada were more serious then those of the Maritimes. Often the Maritimes were pushed to the side to deal with at another t ….
