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... ime; another time that often never came. The main interest of the Maritimes was the Intercolonial Railway. This was the business staple of the Maritimes so to speak. The head office of the rail was located in Moncton and it conducted the majority of trade between the Maritimes and Central Canada. The prices that were put on freight were allowed to be lower in hopes of promoting Maritime economic growth.
The lower rates allowed secondary manufacturers in the Maritimes to save on freight, and ship products to Central Canada in hopes of penetrating the market there. The reduced freight rates were a huge boost for Maritime Industry. The Intercolonial Railway was one of the only bright points for the Maritimes. It was often economically profitable in a time when not much else was in the Maritimes. But once again the interests of the Maritimes are squashed when, in the interests of the West, the Railway is merged with the National Railway in 1918. The Intercolonial Railway was a big business in the Maritimes, and once again Central and Western Canada interests had won out.
They were putting increasing pressure on the Railway because the Prairies wanted equal freight rates. The new National Railway took over and raised the freight rates to match the rest of Canada. With a raise in freight rates and a drop in the use of tariffs, most of the business that came to the Maritimes was leaving for other parts of Canada and the U. S. The main Railway office was now moved to Toronto, thus further separating the Maritimes from the rest of Canada.
Now that freight rates were raised the Maritimes were at a disadvantage again to the rest of Canada yet again. The Maritimes had no choice bit to use the new national railway, but could not afford the increased freight rates, which had gone up 140 to 216 percent. One of the few advantages that the Maritimes had was now gone. In the better intrest's of West and Central Canada what little economic prosperity the Maritimes had left was taken away.
In 1919 there was a delegation of concerned Merchants and other businessmen that went to Ottawa. They hoped to get the Intercolonial Railway reinstated in the Maritimes as an independent railway. The delegation was mostly not successful. High freight rates hurt local merchants who formerly shipped their goods from Central Canada. Maritime sea trade was hurt as well when Central Canada started to ship around the Maritimes (to save money) and went through the U. S to get to the Atlantic. 14 The Intercolonial Railway is only one example of the many large-scale industries that either left the Maritimes or ceased to operate in the Maritimes during this period.
Maritime companies and businesses were suffering severe financial losses at the hands of the bigger corporations in Central Canada. In addition to this, many of the businesss that remained moved their head offices from Maritime industrial areas to areas in Central Canada such as Montreal. As time passed it seemed that the situation of the Maritimes only worsened, while the realization for needed improvements increased. The ports of both Halifax and Saint John vied to be the port of choice for the country. Unfortunately with the outstanding high freight rates neither was a threat to their American counterparts down the coast. Both ports were independent in ownership and needed business and trade, which they were not getting.
The port of Portland had a greater advantage than the two Canadian seaports. The ports of Saint John and Halifax did not have the volume or the variety of traffic needed to attract potential industry. Lower prices were needed and the high freight rates of the National Railway discouraged lower pricing. Also, greater business would help in lowering the prices of the ports but high prices kept business away.
A joint committee was appointed to investigate the possibility of regaining the Intercolonial and regaining trade through the Maritime seaports 15. The committee was resisted by the Federal Government and did not regain what is wanted.
When the commission reported it noted that Maritimes were not developing and advancing at the same pace as the rest of Canada. The commission did however say that this was not the result of Confederation, which had commonly been the belief of most maritimer's. The commission said that the Maritimes did need some aid, and without it they would continue to lag behind the rest of Canada. On the basis of the commission some aid and needed changes were given to help the Maritimes. This was the big accomplishment of the Maritime Rights Movement. On the basis of the commission, the Maritimes were given increased subsidies from the federal government.
This was done in the hopes that this might put the Maritimes on a more level playing field with the rest of Canada. The prices on freight were also lowered in the Maritimes to make them closer to the National average. Also a new ferry was put in place to make the commune between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The commission also included a request that asked for port communities to be put in St. John and Halifax in hopes that ports might bring more sea business and employment to the Maritimes.
In retrospect one can see that the Maritime Rights movement was different from the regional progressive movement of the western provinces for a few reasons. Most notably the Maritimes didnt implement a three party system, and both parties vying for power support in the Maritimes addressed the requests of the Movement. Also different from the West was the fact that the west wanted to benefit themselves, whereas the Maritimes simply wanted things to stay the same, and not fall any further behind the rest of the County. The Movement in the Maritimes was one, which wanted stability in a time of recession. As I mentioned at in the beginning of the paper, the Maritimes did not want to separate from the rest of Canada (such as Quebec in the last few decades).
Instead the Maritime Rights Movement was more intended to achieve a sense of equality between all the parts of the Nation. Although some Maritimers did want to opt out of Confederation, most realized that it would only be more detrimental to the Maritimes. The Maritimes simply wanted to be caught up to the rest of Canada, both economically and otherwise. Maritimers felt that they were being left out of the big picture, while the rest of Canada was inching ahead without them.
The Movement was simply designed to give Maritimers a bigger piece of the pie in the interests of Canada as a whole. In the end one can see that Canadas interests clearly laid with the Western and Central Parts of the Country. It is also clear that the Maritimes were significantly disadvantaged politically and economically as compared to the rest of Canada. The Maritime Rights movement did achieve some success (even if minimal), but probably not that which most had hoped for.
It was only a brief movement that lasted for several years. The movement was most successful in raising awareness of the need for aid to the Maritimes, and bringing the voices of Maritime people together to achieve similar goals.
Forbes, E. R. The Origins of the Maritime Rights Movement. Acadiensis Press, Fredericton, 1974. Forbes, E. R. , Must, D.
A. The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation. Univ. of Toronto Press, 1997. Books Used as Reference Francis, R. Douglas, Jones, Richard, Smith Donald, B.
Destinies: Canadian History Since Confederation. Harcourt & Brace, Toronto, 1996. Granastein, J. L. Nation: Canada Since Confederation 3 rd Ed. McGraw Hill Ryerson, Toronto Press, 1990.
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Research essay sample on The Rights Movement Nova Scotia Canada
