has been increasing at a rapid rate . We 

 have added 100,000 people since Confeder- 

 ation - the equivalent of the whole popu- 

 lation of Prince Edward Island. What can 

 we do to hold that population? That is 

 our big problem. It is aggravated by the 

 fact that our population increase is the 

 result of the surplus of births over 

 deaths. We have no adult ijnmigration . 

 Every year our potential working force 

 rises by from three to four thousand and 

 ovir basic resources cannot enable us to 

 absorb so many 



"... .Our financial future , the future 

 of our present inadequate services, our 

 ability to maintain then at substandard 

 levels now rests in the hands of the 

 Federal Government." ±2' 



Mr. R. E. Tweeddale, General Manager 

 of the New Brunswick Electric Power Com- 

 mission, said in a September 1958 speech: 



"There is no doubt that we in the 

 region are justly entitled to national 

 assistance to help balance the difficul- 

 ties which have been thrust upon us in the 

 past, and this assistance should not be 

 looked upon by ourselves or other parts of 

 Canada as handouts, but merely just com- 

 pensation to a region which has been ad- 

 versely affected by the creation of a 

 Country that trades east and west rather 

 than the logical and natural method of 

 trade north and south . " 30/ 



The Fisheries 



1. Historial Importance 



As in New England, the fishery is the 

 oldest industry in the Atlantic Provinces, 

 Unlike New England, however, where the 

 industry is now of slight importance rela- 

 tive to the rest of the regional econon^r, 

 the sea fishery of the Atlantic Provinces 

 is a most important part of the area's 

 economic base. 



Canada was once called "Bacalaos" . 

 This was the name given to the mainland of 

 North America by John Cabot in his explor- 

 atory voyage of 11^97. "Bacalaos" was the 

 Basque word for codfish and Cabot found 

 Basque fishennen off the Atlantic Coast 

 engaged in a cod fishery. 31/ The Canadian 

 Atlantic fishing banks have long been a 

 support of the Provincial economies, par- 

 ticularly Newfoundland's. 



The political life of the area has 

 been and continues to reflect the economic 

 importance of the fishery. The settlement 

 of Newfoundland was entirely dependent on 

 the fisheries, Halifax was founded in 

 17li9 to protect the fisheries. The Treaty 

 of Versailles (1783) ending the American 

 Revolution dealt sensitively with American 

 fishery rights in waters off today's 

 Atlantic Provinces, Disputes between the 

 United States and Britain over American 

 rights in inshore waters off Nova Scotia 

 nearly led to armed conflict in 1852. 

 Fear of American encroachment in the 

 maritime fisheries was one of the forces 

 impelling Canadian confederation in 

 1867. 32/ The Great Depression of the 

 1930' s destroyed the Newfoundland salt cod 

 market with such disastrous doirestic con- ■ 

 sequences as to result in the collapse of 

 responsible government and the substitution 

 of a British royal governing commission. 

 In 1959, the Provincial Government of New- 

 foundland was led to break a bitter strike 

 of lumbermen. According to Premier Small- 

 wood, the lumbermen's union was trying to 

 establish "an elite corps" of about 5,000 

 professional loggers which would cut off 

 winter work for upwards of 20,000 fisher- 

 men. The recent policy of Ftederal and 

 Provincial aid to the fishing industry is 

 founded on a long standing public interest 

 in the sea fishery. 



2. Relative Importance pf The Fishery 



The modem-day dependence of the At- 

 lantic Provinces' economics on the fishery 



29/ Speech delivered at the meeting of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, 

 St. John's, Newfoundland, September 23, 1958. 



30^ From an address delivered at the Newfoundland General Meeting of the Atlantic 

 Provinces Economic Council, St. John's, Newfoundland, September 22, 19<8. 



31/ Canada's Fisheries . Department of Fisheries, Ottawa, King's Printer, I9U6, p. 3. 



32/ Estej-brook, W. M., and H. G. J. Aitken. Canadian Economic Histoi y. The 

 Macmillan Company of Canada, Limited, Toronto, 19^8. "p.' 377. ' 



15 



