government aid than elsewhere. Moreover, 

 the migrants ha\re tended to be the younger 

 more aggressive, and skillsd members of 

 the labor force. 



Another implication of the long-terra 

 labor surplus in the Atlantic Provinces is 

 that it places management in a stronger 

 bargaining position in dealing with labor 

 than in the more industrialized econony of 

 New England where there is less unemploy- 

 ment and a greater range of available al- 

 ternative jobs. Moreover, ownership is 

 concentrated in one or a few producers, in 

 some basic industries and consequently the 

 opportunities for management to take a 

 stronger position with labor are inten- 

 sijfied. 



The lower per capita income in the At- 

 lantic Provinces has restricted the reve- 

 nues available to the Provincial Govern- 

 ments for social and welfare services. For 

 example, with the exception of Nova Scotia, 

 educational levels have been substantially 

 below the standard prevailing in other 

 Canadian Provinces. In all Canada U5 per- 

 cent of the male labor force have some 

 secondary education but only 33 percent in 

 New Brunswick and 28 percent in Newfound- 

 land have achieved this level. ^/ 



In periods of cyclical or seasonal 

 unen^jloyment , ptederal transfer payiKnts 

 are a crucially important source of family 

 income. Early in 1959 in Newfoundland, 

 after a fishery failure and a depression 

 in the mining industry, 115,000 of the 

 Province's ]450,000 people were living on 

 Government benefits, 60,000 were receiving 

 unemployment insurance , and the rest were 

 on the rolls for various kinds of social 

 assistance. 2?/ 



The deficit position of the Atlantic 

 Provinces vis-a-vis the rest of the 

 Dominion, their poorer living standards, 

 and the hi^er per capita governmental 

 welfare costs in the region, have been a 

 source of concern to federal and provin- 

 cial authorities. Economists have con- 

 cluded that there are possibilities for 



only a relatively slight growth in second- 

 ary manufacturing. Accordingly, govern- 

 mental efforts to aid the regional economy- 

 have been directed toward the resource - 

 based industries. The object has been to 

 increase living standards and income levels 

 by encouraging greater capital investment 

 per worker and thus achieve higher produc- 

 tivity per worker. The aid given has been 

 in the form of outright subsidies, low- 

 interest loans, tax concessions, quick 

 depreciation write-offs, free technical 

 schools, and technical consultation. Much 

 progress has been made in substituting 

 capital for labor in such basic industries 

 as fishing and mining. Yet the Royal 

 Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects 

 concluded that some further special govern- 

 mental assistance may be needed for con- 

 tinued economic development. 28/ 



Many of the leaders of the region 

 accept the view that more governmental 

 assistance is needed. In a speech before 

 a meeting of the Atlantic Provinces 

 Economic Counsul, Mr. A. B. Perlin, a New- 

 foundland director of A.P.E.C., stressed 

 the need for more federal aid for provin- 

 cial development and said; 



"Where does Newfoundland stand today? 

 Economically, the position is difficult. 

 Even if there were not a mild recession in 

 newsprint and logging we would still have 

 to face up to the fact that the intro- 

 duction of the chain-saw has revolutionized 

 the logging industry. Once it took 17,000 

 men to complete our pulpwood cut. Today 

 it is possible for half that number to cut 

 the wood we want in much shorter time . 

 Mechanization has deprived many thousands 

 of their marginal earnings in the fall. 

 The salt codfishery is still uncertain and 

 unstable. Once 1^0,000 men drew their 

 living from it. Today, save in exceptional 

 circumstances, it cannot support 12,000. 

 Our mining industry is doing fairly well. 

 The American bases remain a large but un- 

 certain support to the economy. Basic 

 agriculture has suffei^d from our inability 

 to produce as cheaply as we can buy root 

 crops from the Maritimes. But population 



;26/ Ibid. 



27/ The New York Times, March 21, 1959, 



28/ Final Report , Royal Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects, op. cit, 

 .106. 



Ih 



