Maritime Rights Movement

1922–7. This movement was contrived to convince Canadians that the Maritime region had declined under the policies of the federal government. While offering a broad critique of federal economic and transportation policies, it could also be seen as an attempt by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Conservatives to overthrow the Liberal hegemony that had persisted both at provincial and federal levels for much of the preceding three decades.

Collapse of the Maritime provinces' urban/industrial economy, largely set in place over the decades preceding the First World War, was intensely felt, especially in the face of the post-war economic recovery in the rest of Canada. Within a few years of the war's end, half of all Maritime manufacturing jobs had disappeared, as local companies failed to adjust to peacetime demands or were absorbed by bigger competitors from central Canada. That process of national consolidation had been evident on the eve of the war, but had been interrupted by brisk wartime demand for all products.

The sense of crisis evinced by the urban middle classes, who counted on continued prosperity to sustain the large infrastructure investments in their towns, spawned one of the most intense regional political movements of the century. In the process, central Canada's perspective on the Maritimes was recast to that of a have-not region within Canada, eventually leading to a somewhat sympathetic viewpoint demanding that its economic and social problems be addressed through federal action.

Politically, discontent with the region's gradual loss of parliamentary representation was a critical issue, especially following the 1921 census, when yet another round of redistribution threatened to reduce further the region's representation in the House of Commons . However, near universal support outside the region for strict adherence to the British North America Act's call for representation by population as the only fair and equitable system in a democratic society drove Canadians to oppose any concessions to Maritimers.

Transportation issues revolved around restoration of the Intercolonial Railway's role as an instrument for economic development and integration, mostly discussed in the framework of re-establishing preferential freight rates , which had skyrocketed following the formation of the CNR system. Directing Canadian goods through Canadian ports and improving Halifax and Saint John facilities for handling freight were additional elements in this renewed economic strategy. Higher tariff protection for specific Maritime industries such as coal and steelmaking and increased federal subsidies to the provincial governments were more problematic.

Working primarily through Boards of Trade and an informal network of Maritimers' clubs throughout Canada, the movement strove both to improve the region's image and to impress the seriousness of its economic collapse on the rest of the country. A variety of means were used to achieve this awareness, including speaking tours, editorial campaigns, and a massive delegation to Ottawa in 1925, calculated to impress the federal government with the unity of the region.

Maritime Rights finally bore fruit when, following Liberal reverses in the region in the 1926 federal election as well as in provincial elections the preceding year, Prime Minister Mackenzie King appointed a Royal Commission on Maritime Claims, to be chaired by British industrial expert Sir Arthur Rae Duncan . While broad sympathy for regional problems was expressed, there was also relief in Ottawa when, after extensive hearings and submission of various provincial briefs, the commission's recommendations proved palatable to the rest of the country. The most important single recommendation was that the federal government provide additional subsidies to provincial governments in the region so that they might maintain a level of services commensurate with some national standard, the beginning of a decisive new trend in federal–provincial relations . The report, however, made few concrete recommendations about the two most contentious issues: tariffs and freight rates. The onus for rate adjustments, which regional spokespeople had seen as a continuous barrier to their competitive participation in the economy, was transferred to the Board of Railway Commissioners . Tariff questions were dismissed as outside the commission's scope. Nevertheless, the federal government would maintain that it had listened and responded to Maritime grievances.

In spite of good intentions and practical solutions offered by the commissioners, a sudden Liberal cabinet backlash in 1927 led to modification and dilution of the response to the commission and neglect of the region. While attempts were made to regain the momentum of the Maritime rights movement in subsequent years, by the end of the decade regional political agitation had quieted. The Depression of the 1930s would raise many of the same issues at the national level.