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99-579: 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 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

198-465: A harness racing 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,

297-417: A "liberal order" in northern North America. Many Canadian historians have adopted McKay's liberal order framework as a paradigm for understanding Canadian history. In 2008, historian Andrew Smith advanced a very different view of Confederation's ideological origins. He argues that in the four original Canadian provinces, the politics of taxation were a central issue in the debate about Confederation. Taxation

396-606: A Father of Confederation. As well, Joey Smallwood referred to himself as "the Last Father of Confederation" because he helped lead Newfoundland into the union in 1949. All the former colonies and territories that became involved in the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, were initially part of New France , and were once ruled by France . Nova Scotia was granted in 1621 to Sir William Alexander under charter by James I . This claim overlapped

495-406: A battle between a staunch individualist economic philosophy and a comparatively collectivist view of the state's proper role in the economy. According to Smith, the victory of the statist supporters of Confederation over their anti-statist opponents prepared the way for John A. Macdonald 's government to enact the protectionist National Policy and to subsidize major infrastructure projects such as

594-659: A champagne lunch on board the Victoria where Mr. McGee's wit sparkled brightly as the wine), they carried the Lower Province delegates a little off their feet." The delegates from the Quebec conference considered if the resolutions would be better suited for acceptance if a popular vote were held on them. However, due to the divide amongst religious groups and general mistrust between areas in Canada, they believed that such

693-582: A government bill on vehicle safety which would require automobile manufacturers to compensate dealers for unsold vehicles subject to recall. It was supported and incorporated into the Bill by a majority of the Senate. In March 2017, Greene unsuccessfully ran to succeed Claude Carignan as leader of the Senate Conservatives, losing to Larry Smith . A few days after his defeat, Greene was no longer

792-684: A limited form of sovereignty and independence, stemming from the New Brunswick region of Canada but ultimately encompassing the whole of the Atlantic provinces 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

891-495: 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

990-535: A separate province. This was promoted by the Parti Acadien and is similarly represented by the historic " Republic of Madawaska ". 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 and

1089-401: 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. There are several convergent—unique, historically related, and ultimately intertwined—movements for

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1188-486: 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

1287-626: A vote would be defeated. Thus, they went ahead with the resolutions on their own volition. After returning home from the Charlottetown Conference, Macdonald asked Viscount Monck , the Governor-General of the Province of Canada to invite delegates from the three Maritime provinces and Newfoundland to a conference with United Canada delegates. At the opening of the conference, a total of 33 delegates were included from

1386-463: Is a neoliberal project with intent to facilitate natural resource extraction and deregulation. Several issues which would dominate any discussion of a theoretical Maritime Union include: Stephen Greene (politician) Stephen Greene (born December 8, 1949) is a Canadian politician and an independent member of the Senate of Canada . He was appointed on the advice of Stephen Harper to

1485-594: 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 , 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

1584-401: Is known Cartier and Macdonald presented arguments in favour of a union of the three colonies, Alexander Tilloch Galt presented the Province of Canada's proposals on the financial arrangements of such a union, and George Brown presented a proposal for what form a united government might take. The Canadian delegation's proposal for the governmental system involved: Other proposals attractive to

1683-510: Is of the utmost importance to have that principle recognized so that we shall have a sovereign who is placed above the region of party—to whom all parties look up; who is not elevated by the action of one party nor depressed by the action of another; who is the common head and sovereign of all. Following the Quebec Conference, the Province of Canada's legislature passed a bill approving the union. The union proved more controversial in

1782-476: Is often considered to be among the world's more decentralized federations. Use of the term confederation arose in the Province of Canada to refer to proposals beginning in the 1850s to federate all of the British North American colonies, as opposed to only Canada West (now Ontario) and Canada East (now Quebec). To contemporaries of Confederation, the con- prefix indicated a strengthening of

1881-641: 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 . 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 political leaders

1980-700: Is the remnants of the Hudson's Bay Company 's Columbia District and New Caledonia District following the Oregon Treaty . Before joining Canada in 1871, British Columbia consisted of the separate Colony of British Columbia (formed in 1858, in an area where the Crown had granted a monopoly to the Hudson's Bay Company), and the Colony of Vancouver Island (formed in 1849) constituting a separate crown colony until it

2079-843: The 49th parallel as the border with the United States from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains in Western Canada. Following the Rebellions of 1837 , Lord Durham in his Durham Report , recommended Upper and Lower Canada be joined as the Province of Canada and the new province should have a responsible government . As a result of Durham's report, the British Parliament passed the Act of Union 1840 , and

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2178-545: The Alaska Purchase of March 30, 1867, which had been supported in the U.S. Senate (by Charles Sumner, among others) precisely in terms of taking the remainder of North America from the British. The American Civil War had also horrified Canadians and turned many from the thought of republicanism. In Britain, political pressure came from financiers who had lost money by investing in the failed Grand Trunk Railway and

2277-517: The Confederation). The term is also used to divide Canadian history into pre-Confederation and post-Confederation periods. The original Fathers of Confederation are those delegates who attended any of the conferences held at Charlottetown and Quebec in 1864 or in London, United Kingdom, in 1866, leading to Confederation. There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation; Hewitt Bernard , who

2376-624: The Conservative Party of Canada . On November 4, 2019, he joined the Canadian Senators Group . Changes for Marxist–Leninist candidate Tony Seed are based on his 1988 results, when he ran as an Independent. Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (French: Confédération canadienne ) was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada , Nova Scotia , and New Brunswick —were united into one federation , called

2475-592: The Courrier du Canada . Two years later, Alexander Tilloch Galt , George-Étienne Cartier , and John Ross travelled to the United Kingdom to present the British Parliament with a project for confederation of the British colonies. The proposal was received by the London authorities with polite indifference. The royal tour of British North America undertaken by Queen Victoria's son, Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII ) in 1860, however, helped lead to

2574-498: The Dominion of Canada , on July 1, 1867. This process occurred in accordance with the rising tide of Canadian nationalism that was then beginning to swell within these provinces and others. Upon Confederation, Canada consisted of four provinces: Ontario and Quebec , which had been split out from the Province of Canada, and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The province of Prince Edward Island , which had hosted

2673-525: The Intercolonial and Pacific Railways. In 2007, political scientist Janet Ajzenstat connected Canadian Confederation to the individualist ideology of John Locke . She argued that the union of the British North American colonies was motivated by a desire to protect individual rights, especially the rights to life, liberty, and property. She contends the Fathers of Confederation were motivated by

2772-672: The London Resolutions , the conference's decisions were forwarded to the Colonial Office . After breaking for Christmas, the delegates reconvened in January 1867 and began drafting the British North America Act . The 4th Earl of Carnarvon continued to have a central role in drafting the act at Highclere Castle alongside the first prime minister of Canada Macdonald, Cartier and Galt, who signed

2871-571: The Maritime Film Classification Board and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation . 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

2970-486: The Province of Canada , not just of the Maritime colonies or Newfoundland. 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

3069-630: The Senate on January 2, 2009, after being appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper . In an interview with The Chronicle Herald after the appointment had been announced in 2008, Greene indicated that he wished to work on reforming the Senate. He served as Deputy Government Whip in the Senate from 2010 until June 2011, when he became the Vice Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport. In September 2011, Greene argued that if term limits were added for Senators,

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3168-484: 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

3267-408: The little Englander philosophy fed a desire to withdraw troops from Britain's colonies. There is extensive scholarly debate on the role of political ideas in Canadian Confederation. Traditionally, historians regarded Canadian Confederation an exercise in political pragmatism that was essentially non-ideological. In the 1960s, historian Peter Waite derided the references to political philosophers in

3366-488: The 1820s, Cape Breton Island was re-merged into Nova Scotia to free up that island's lucrative coal 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

3465-425: 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

3564-748: 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 of the Council of Canadians , as little more than a regional prototype for a future North American Union . 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

3663-623: The British North American Colonies, including Newfoundland, which had not participated in prior meetings. Monck obliged and the Conference went ahead at Quebec City in October 1864. The Conference began on October 10, 1864, on the site of present-day Montmorency Park. The Conference elected Étienne-Paschal Taché as its chairman, but it was dominated by Macdonald. Despite differences in the positions of some of

3762-464: The British government in London, where Brown received "a most gracious answer to our constitutional scheme". He also met with William Gladstone—who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer and, later, Prime Minister—"who agreed in almost everything". In April 1865, Brown, Macdonald, Cartier and Galt met with the government and found "the project of a federal union of the colonies was highly approved of by

3861-412: The Charlottetown Conference varied among the different newspapers. In the Maritimes, there was concern that the smooth Canadians with their sparkling champagne and charming speeches were outsmarting the delegates of the smaller provinces. "From all accounts it looks as if these [Canadian] gentlemen had it all their own way; ... and that, what with their arguments and what with their blandishments, (they gave

3960-487: 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

4059-740: The Colonies ; the Prince's comments and critiques were later cited by both the Earl of Durham and participants of the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences . Lord Durham presented his idea of unification in 1839 Report on the Affairs of British North America , which resulted in the Act of Union 1840. Beginning in 1857, Joseph-Charles Taché proposed a federation in a series of 33 articles published in

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4158-683: The Deputy Opposition Whip. In May 2017, Smith told Greene that if he wished to remain in the Senate Conservatives, he could not accept a dinner invitation from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanking all Senators who had sponsored government legislation. According to Smith, Greene's votes at the Senate Modernization Committee in support of plans by Peter Harder , the Liberal government representative in

4257-721: The French claims to Acadia , and although the Scottish colony of Nova Scotia was short-lived, for political reasons, the conflicting imperial interests of France and the 18th century Great Britain led to a long and bitter struggle for control. The British acquired present-day mainland Nova Scotia by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 and the Acadian population was expelled by the British in 1755. They renamed Acadia "Nova Scotia", which included present-day New Brunswick . The rest of New France

4356-465: The Maritime provinces, however, and it was not until 1866 that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia passed union resolutions, while Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland continued to opt against joining. In December 1866, sixteen delegates from the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia travelled to London, where the Earl of Carnarvon presented each to Queen Victoria in private audience , as well as holding court for their wives and daughters. To

4455-418: The Maritimes, when he had gone down earlier that summer with a trade mission of Canadian businessmen, journalists and politicians. George Brown remarked in a letter to his wife Anne that at a party given by the premier of PEI, Colonel John Hamilton Gray, he met a woman who had never been off the island in her entire life. Nevertheless, he found Prince Edward Islanders to be "amazingly civilized". Reaction to

4554-673: The Nova Scotian delegates, the Queen said, "I take the deepest interest in [Confederation], for I believe it will make [the provinces] great and prosperous." At meetings held at the Westminster Palace Hotel, the delegates reviewed and approved the 72 resolutions; although Charles Tupper had promised anti-union forces in Nova Scotia he would push for amendments, he was unsuccessful in getting any passed. Now known as

4653-494: The Province of Canada was formed in 1841. The new province was divided into two parts: Canada West (the former Upper Canada) and Canada East (the former Lower Canada). Governor General Lord Elgin granted ministerial responsibility in 1848, first to Nova Scotia and then to Canada. In the following years, the British would extend responsible government to Prince Edward Island (1851), New Brunswick (1854), and Newfoundland (1855). The area constituting modern-day British Columbia

4752-475: The Province of Canada. The Charlottetown Conference began on September 1, 1864. Since the agenda for the meeting had already been set, the delegation from the Province of Canada was initially not an official part of the Conference. The issue of Maritime Union was deferred and the Canadians were formally allowed to join and address the Conference. No minutes from the Charlottetown Conference survive, but it

4851-562: The Senate on January 2, 2009, and sat as a Conservative Senator until May 2017, when Senate Leader Larry Smith removed him for his support for Senate reform proposals put forth by the governing Liberal Party . Greene then decided to sit as an "Independent Reform " Senator. Greene was born in Montreal , Quebec . Greene served as Chief of Staff in the office of Reform Party of Canada leader Preston Manning for four years. He encouraged future Prime Minister Stephen Harper to run for

4950-538: The Senate, were too far out of line for a Conservative Senator because the reform would "effectively eliminate the Opposition." According to Greene, he had offered to report to Smith about the government's plans for the Senate, but was rebuffed. Greene chose to leave caucus and sit as an "Independent Reform" Senator. Greene joined the Independent Senators Group on October 24, 2017 and left

5049-488: The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and became Deputy Government Whip again. In July 2015, Greene co-authored a report with Liberal Quebec Senator Paul Massicotte which argued that the Senate's "institutionalized partisanship" should end. After the 2015 federal election , Greene became the only Conservative to sponsor a government bill during the 42nd Canadian Parliament . sponsoring Bill S-4, which implemented double taxation deals with Taiwan and Israel , which

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5148-466: 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

5247-629: The United States without taxes or tariffs, which was then considered to be beneficial for Canada) was cancelled by the United States in 1865, partly as revenge against Britain for unofficial support of the south in the American Civil War. Additionally, the U.S. doctrine of " manifest destiny " raised fears of another American invasion (Canadians had fended off American incursions during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Fenian raids , and St. Albans Raid ), only further inflamed by

5346-415: 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. Support for

5445-412: The acceptable compromise of giving Newfoundland four senators of its own when it joined. The delegates from the Maritimes also raised an issue with respect to the level of government—federal or provincial—that would be given the powers not otherwise specifically defined. Macdonald, who was aiming for the strongest central government possible, insisted this was to be the central government, and in this, he

5544-586: The areas of purchase and procurement. 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 . After Acadia fell to the British , following the Seven Years' War (what is today known as the Nova Scotia peninsula had been in British possession post-1713),

5643-556: The centrist principle compared to the American federation. In this Canadian context, confederation describes the political process that united the colonies in 1867, events related to that process, and the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. The word is now often used to describe Canada in an abstract way, such as in "the Fathers of Confederation"; provinces that became part of Canada after 1867 are also said to have joined, or entered into, Confederation (but not

5742-578: The contemporary governmental structure in the Province of Canada and distrust between English Protestants and French Catholics. Further, demographic pressure from an expanding population and economic nationalism wanting economic development butted against a lack of an inter-colonial railroad, which hampered trade, military movement, and transportation in general. Externally, the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty (a free trade policy, starting in 1854, whereby products were allowed into

5841-668: The continent that would become modern Canada had been in Newfoundland which would not join Confederation until 1949. The Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol began to settle Newfoundland and Labrador at Cuper's Cove as far back as 1610, and Newfoundland had also been the subject of a French colonial enterprise . In the wake of the American Revolution , an estimated 50,000 United Empire Loyalists fled to British North America . The British created

5940-423: The delegates decided to hold a second Conference. One of the most important purposes of the Charlottetown Conference was the introduction of Canadians to the leaders from the Maritime Provinces and vice versa. At this point, there was no railway link from Quebec City to Halifax, and the people of each region had little to do with one another. Thomas D'Arcy McGee was one of the few Canadian delegates who had been to

6039-512: The delegates on some issues, the Quebec Conference, following so swiftly on the success of the Charlottetown Conference, was infused with a determinative sense of purpose and nationalism . For the Reformers of Canada West, led by George Brown, the end of what they perceived as French-Canadian interference in local affairs was in sight. For Maritimers such as Tupper of Nova Scotia or Tilley of New Brunswick, horizons were suddenly broadened to take in much larger possibilities for trade and growth. On

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6138-553: The dilution of influence over provincial affairs. Of particular concern is the possible linguistic and cultural dilution that the Acadian 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

6237-594: 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

6336-536: 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 disparate geographic regions that composed 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

6435-457: 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. The CAP has led all three provincial governments to extend cooperation in the adoption of common consumption taxes, insurance legislation harmonisation, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation , venture capital funding,

6534-467: The first meeting to consider Confederation, the Charlottetown Conference , did not join Confederation until 1873. Over the years since Confederation, Canada has seen numerous territorial changes and expansions, resulting in the current number of ten provinces and three territories . Canada is a federation , rather than a confederate association of sovereign states, which is what confederation means in contemporary political theory. The country, though,

6633-455: The growing economic domination of Halifax and wish to maintain their remaining influence in provincial affairs. In May 1970, a Gallup 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. A Maritime Union (or an Atlantic Union) would face significant political challenges in gaining broad acceptance across

6732-408: The holdings of absentee landlords . "Never was there such an opportunity as now for the birth of a nation" proclaimed a pamphlet written by S. E. Dawson and reprinted in a Quebec City newspaper during the Conference. Again, reaction to the Quebec Conference varied depending on the political views of the critic. George Brown was the first, in December 1864, to carry the constitutional proposals to

6831-425: The idea of a Maritime Union which would join their three colonies together. The government of the Province of Canada surprised the Maritime governments by asking if the Province of Canada could be included in the negotiations. The request was channelled through the Governor-General, Monck, to London and accepted by the Colonial Office. After several years of legislative paralysis in the Province of Canada caused by

6930-412: The imperial authorities". On the form of the proposed system of governance for Canada, the Fathers of Confederation were influenced by the American republic. Macdonald said in 1865: By adhering to the monarchical principle, we avoid one defect inherent in the constitution of the United States . By the election of the president by a majority and for a short period, he never is the sovereign and chief of

7029-417: The inefficiencies in having multiple provincial governments and bureaucracies for a population one seventh the size of Ontario . Greene also argued that despite the similarities and shared history of the Maritimes, the "artificial" provincial barriers inhibit growth by competing for private sector money and imposing trade barriers on each other. On September 13, 2013, Greene left his position as Vice Chair of

7128-494: The issue of the Senate, the Maritime Provinces pressed for as much equality as possible. With the addition of Newfoundland to the Conference, the three Maritime colonies did not wish to see the strength of their provinces in the upper chamber diluted by simply adding Newfoundland to the Atlantic category. It was the matter of the Senate that threatened to derail the entire proceedings. It was Macdonald who came up with

7227-773: The leadership of the Reform party's successor party, the Canadian Alliance . He was an unsuccessful Reform Party candidate in Halifax in the 1993 and 1997 federal elections . He then worked as the Executive Director of the Insurance Brokers Association of Nova Scotia. In the two years prior to his Senate appointment Greene was Principal Secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff to Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald . Greene joined

7326-418: The legislative debates on Confederation as "hot air". In Waite's view, Confederation was driven by pragmatic brokerage politics and competing interest groups. In 1987, political scientist Peter J. Smith challenged the view Canadian Confederation was non-ideological. Smith argued Confederation was motivated by new political ideologies as much as the American and French Revolutions and Canadian Confederation

7425-495: The mandatory retirement age of 75 should be removed, citing the case of Senator Vim Kochhar , who worked 14 hours days despite hitting the mandatory retirement age after only two years. In June 2012, the Senate Transport committee on which he was deputy chair issued "The Future of Canadian Air Travel: Toll Booth or Spark Plug?", a report which called on the government to stop requiring Canadian airports to pay rent, which

7524-817: 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 concept of a political union was formally discussed at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864 when Newfoundland , New Brunswick , Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were individual colonies in British North America , but that meeting resulted in Confederation of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and

7623-472: The nation. He is never looked up to by the whole people as the head and front of the nation. He is, at best, but the successful leader of a party. This defect is all the greater on account of the practice of reelection. During his first term of office, he is employed in taking steps to secure his own reelection and, for his party, a continuance of power. We avoid this by adhering to the monarchical principle—the sovereign, whom you respect and love. I believe that it

7722-548: The need to maintain a double legislative majority (a majority of both the Canada East and Canada West delegates in the Province of Canada's legislature), Macdonald had led his Liberal-Conservative Party into the Great Coalition with Cartier's Parti bleu and George Brown 's Clear Grits . Macdonald, Cartier, and Brown felt union with the other British colonies might be a way to solve the political problems of

7821-701: 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 , a government agency. Together, they have hosted regular regional conferences promoting

7920-408: The political system. Queen Victoria remarked on "the impossibility of our being able to hold Canada; but, we must struggle for it; and by far the best solution would be to let it go as an independent kingdom under an English prince." Several factors influenced Confederation, caused both by internal sources and pressures from external sources. Internally, there was political deadlock resulting from

8019-625: The politicians from the Maritime colonies were: By September 7, 1864, the delegates from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island gave a positive answer to the Canadian delegation, expressing the view the federation of all of the provinces was considered desirable if the terms of union could be made satisfactory and the question of Maritime Union was waived. After the Conference adjourned on September 9, there were further meetings between delegates held at Halifax , Saint John , and Fredericton . These meetings evinced enough interest that

8118-600: 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

8217-468: 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

8316-578: The separate province of New Brunswick in 1784 for the Loyalists who settled in the western part of Nova Scotia. While Nova Scotia (including New Brunswick) received slightly more than half of this influx, many Loyalists also settled in the Province of Quebec, which by the Constitutional Act 1791 was separated into a predominantly English Upper Canada and a predominantly French Lower Canada . The War of 1812 and Treaty of 1818 established

8415-501: The unification of the colonies by confirming a common bond between their inhabitants; indeed, the monarchy played a "pivotal legal and symbolic role [...] in cementing the new Canadian union". Further, by 1864, it was clear that continued governance of the Province of Canada under the terms of the 1840 Act of Union had become impracticable. Therefore, a grand coalition of parties, the Great Coalition , formed in order to reform

8514-558: The values of the Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. She argues their intellectual debts to Locke are most evident when one looks at the 1865 debates in the Province of Canada's legislature on whether or not union with the other British North American colonies would be desirable. In the spring of 1864, New Brunswick premier Samuel Leonard Tilley , Nova Scotia premier Charles Tupper , and Prince Edward Island premier John Hamilton Gray were contemplating

8613-530: The visitor book in 1866. After suggestions of 'Franklin' and 'Guelfenland', they agreed the new country should be called Canada , Canada East should be renamed Quebec and Canada West should be renamed Ontario . There was, however, heated debate about how the new country should be designated. Ultimately, the delegates elected to call the new country the Dominion of Canada, after "kingdom" and "confederation", among other options, were rejected. The term dominion

8712-490: The whole thing is, or more perfectly", going on to suggest a unified Canada consisting of two provinces—one formed from Upper and Lower Canada and the other from the Maritime colonies—each with a lieutenant governor and executive council, one located in Montreal and the other in either Annapolis Royal or Windsor . Edward said he would pass the report on to the Earl Bathurst , the then- Secretary of State for War and

8811-538: Was acquired by the British as the result of its defeat of New France in the Seven Years' War , which ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. From 1763 to 1791, most of New France became the Province of Quebec . However, in 1769 the present-day Prince Edward Island , which had been part of Acadia, was renamed "St John's Island" and organized as a separate colony. It was renamed "Prince Edward Island" in 1798 in honour of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn . The first English attempt at settlement on that part of

8910-667: Was allegedly suggested by Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley. The delegates had completed their draft of the British North America Act by February 1867. The act was presented to Queen Victoria on February 11, 1867. The bill was introduced in the House of Lords the next day. The bill was quickly approved by the House of Lords, and then also quickly approved by the British House of Commons . (The Conservative Lord Derby

9009-558: Was also central to the debate in Newfoundland, the tax-averse colony that rejected it. Smith argued Confederation was supported by many colonists who were sympathetic to a relatively interventionist, or statist, approach to capitalist development. Most classical liberals, who believed in free trade and low taxes, opposed Confederation because they feared it would result in Big Government. The struggle over Confederation involved

9108-525: Was being floated as early as 1814. That year, Chief Justice of Lower Canada Jonathan Sewell sent a copy of his report, A Plan for the federal Union of British Provinces in North America , to Prince Edward (both a son of King George III and the father of Queen Victoria ), whom Sewell had befriended when they both resided in Quebec City . Edward replied, "nothing can be better arranged than

9207-544: Was driven by a Court Party ideology. Smith traces the origins of this ideology to eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain, where political life was polarized between defenders of classical republican values of the Country Party and proponents of a new pro-capitalist ideology of the Court Party, which believed in centralizing political power. In British North America in the late 1860s, the Court Party tradition

9306-461: Was functionally similar to a bill Greene said he had sponsored during the Harper government. In 2016, Greene endorsed Maxime Bernier in the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election , and as of May 2017, was the Nova Scotia chair of his leadership campaign. Greene became Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate on March 7, 2016. In February 2017, Greene proposed an amendment to Bill S-2,

9405-621: Was making them uncompetitive for Canadian flyers compared to American airports south of the border. In December 2012, Greene, along with Senators Mike Duffy from Prince Edward Island and John D. Wallace from New Brunswick , promoted the idea of Maritime Union , a proposal which would require amending the Constitution of Canada . In a speech to the Halifax West Conservative Riding Association, Greene argued that Maritime Union would reduce

9504-486: Was represented by the supporters of Confederation, whereas the anti-capitalist and agrarian Country Party tradition was embodied by the Anti-Confederates. In a 2000 journal article, historian Ian McKay argued Canadian Confederation was motivated by the ideology of liberalism and the belief in the supremacy of individual rights. McKay described Confederation as part of the classical liberal project of creating

9603-491: Was supported by, among others, Tupper. At the end of the Conference, it adopted the " seventy-two resolutions " which would form the basis of a scheduled future conference. The Conference adjourned on October 27. Prince Edward Island emerged disappointed from the Quebec Conference. It did not receive support for a guarantee of six members in the proposed House of Commons, and was denied an appropriation of $ 200,000 it felt had been offered at Charlottetown to assist in buying out

9702-403: Was the recording secretary at the Charlottetown Conference , is considered by some to be among them. The individuals who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as Fathers of Confederation . In this way, Amor De Cosmos , who was instrumental both in bringing democracy to British Columbia and in bringing the province into Confederation, is considered to be

9801-549: Was united with the colony of British Columbia in 1866. The remainder of modern-day Canada was made up of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory (both of which were controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company and sold to Canada in 1870) and the Arctic Islands , which were under direct British control and became a part of Canada in 1880. The idea of joining the various colonies in North America

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