CHAPTER 11 



THE ATLANTIC PROVINCES OF CANADA 

 Economic Base 



New England's greatest competition in 

 the market for groundfish fillets comes 

 from its nearest foreign neighbor, the 

 Atlantic Provinces of Canada. These Prov- 

 inces are Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince 

 Edward Island, and Newfoundland. The first 

 three named have socio-economic character- 

 istics somewhat different from those of 

 Newfoundland and are often grouped together 

 under the term "Maritime Provinces." 



All four provinces border on the At- 

 lantic Ocean and two (Prince Edward Island 

 and Newfoundland) are islands. Their total 

 land area, excluding Labrador, of 93 thou- 

 sand square miles is about one -and- a- half 

 times that of New England. Population is, 

 however, much less concentrated than in 

 New England. Dominion estimates as of 

 July 1, 1959, place the Atlantic Provinces' 

 population at 1,859,000, or 10.6 percent of 

 Canada's total population of 17,ii82, 000.17/ 

 This is somewhat less than 20 percent of 

 the 9.7 million people residing in the New 

 England States. Indicative of low urbani- 

 zation is the fact that only 2? communities 

 in the four Provinces had a population of 

 over 5,000 in 1956. 



1. Atlantic Provinces And Canada 



The economic base of the Atlantic 

 Provinces is significantly different from 

 that of the rest of Canada and that of New 

 England. There is relatively greater de- 

 pendence on the primary industries of 

 forestry, mining, and fishing, with Lsss 

 employment proportionally in manufacturing 

 and agriculture. Fox^^st^y, fisheries, and 

 mining contributed 25.5 percent of the net 

 value of production in the Atlantic Prov- 

 inces in 1955, while the same industries 

 furnished 11.5 percent of the net value of 

 production nationally. In contrast, manu- 

 facturing, which accounted for 55 percent 



of the net value of production in all 

 Canada, represented only 37 percent of the 

 net value produced in the Atlantic Prov- 

 inces, (table II -1). 



Newfoundland is especially dependent 

 on the extractive industries for its 

 economic vitality. Forestry, fishing, and 

 mining contributed U2.5 percent of the net 

 value of production in the Province, while 

 manufacturing was responsible for only 32 

 percent of product values. 



Manufacturing in the Atlantic Prov- 

 inces is largely based upon the processing 

 of the raw material resources of the area. 

 Considering the Atlantic Provinces as an 

 economic unit, pulp and paper was the 

 leading manufacturing industry in 1955, 

 followed by fish processing, primary iron 

 and steel, shipbuilding, and butter and 

 cheese . These industries accounted for 

 51* percent of the total value of factory 

 shipments of the Atlantic Region, ix' 



The relative importance of the primary 

 industries to the economic base of the At- 

 lantic Provinces is enqjhasized in table II- 

 2, in which the labor force is distributed 

 by major industry groups. While nationally 

 26 percent of the labor force were engaged 

 in manufacturing, only lU to 18 percent of 

 the labor force were so occupied in the 

 Atlantic Provinces. In the Dominion, only 

 5.5 percent of the labor force were in non- 

 agricultural extractive industries (for- 

 estry and logging; fishing and trapping; 

 mining and quarrying, and oil wells), while 

 in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick propor- 

 tionally over twice as many were so em - 

 plojred, and in Newfoundland five-and-a-half 

 times as many. 



2. Atlantic Provinces And New England 



The contrast between the economies of 

 the Atlantic Provinces and that of New 

 England is seen from a consideration of 

 the non-agricultural labor force in the 

 two areas as distributed by industry groups. 

 In Maine find Massachusetts 39 and 38 percent 



IJ/ Parks, A. C. The Econony of the Atlantic Provinces , 19ii0-1957. Atlantic 

 Provinces Economic Council, September, 1959. p. 3. 



18/ General Review of the Manufacturing Industries of Canada, 1955 . Bureau of 

 Statistics, Industry and Merchandising Division, Queen's Printer and Controller of 

 Stationery, Ottawa, 1958. p. 123. 



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