To prove the carpers and chiders wrong, a regional position on the gateway is a must

by Jim Meek

At the height of the Depression in the 1930s, when East Coast fishermen were shipping salt cod to hungry Western farm families, the per capita income on the drought-ravaged Prairies was $181. In the Maritime provinces, it was $185—or about the same, which makes you wonder why Ottawa was providing financial relief to this region at a per capita rate that was at about one-third the national average.

I discovered this bit of history by reading John DeMont’s spirited beautiful book on the coal industry, Coal Black Heart: The Story of Coal and Lives it Ruled. DeMont also recounts the efforts of C.D. Howe, the powerful Liberal cabinet minister, to pour support into the Ontario steel industry during the Second World War. Howe was so bloody-minded in his bias against the Nova Scotia steel industry that he once told his mandarins to buy products from the U.S. rather than place orders with Dominion Steel and Coal Corp. (Dosco). It’s no wonder that Sydney-based Dosco exited the war wounded and weakened after entering it as a powerful competitor to Ontario steel producers.

Why does this matter? Because the past is prologue. And as loyal readers of this magazine will know, Atlantic Canada is still a laggard when it comes to attracting the kind of federal support that really matters—that is, business investment that supports long-term growth. As odd as it may seem, the way we are governed still makes a difference today, just as it did in the war years.

That’s why you should have been a tad alarmed by the April Fool’s Day joke the federal government foisted upon an indifferent nation. On April 1, the Harper government introduced a bill that will add seats in the House of Commons and weaken Atlantic Canada’s clout in this dear old federation. Under the legislation, 30 political ridings will be added in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. (Power to the powerful!)

In federal states, like Canada and the U.S., national governments are supposed to redistribute governing power to chronically less-populated “regions” to balance the ever-teetering ship of state. Just south of the border, in the world’s greatest democracy, this means that each and every state, from Maine to Hawaii, gets to elect two senators to the Upper House of the U.S. Congress.

Harper’s defenders might say that he too would like to put an elected Senate in place in Canada, hopefully one that gives a voice to the regions, as the fathers of Confederation intended. But after 140 years of failed efforts to reform the Senate, you will pardon me for being a bit of a skeptic. The legislation that will get through Parliament is the one adding seats in Canada’s three most populous provinces. The Senate bill, on the other hand, will die on the Order Papers, while the institution itself continues to retreat into its well-intentioned, earnest, and ineffectual dotage.

It is therapeutic (and truthful) to blame this unhappy state of affairs partly on “them,” then choose more specific targets if you like—the prime minister is a favourite, as is whoever happens to be serving as premier of Ontario. But as Shakespeare once said, sometimes it’s our own fault too, and not only that of the starry heavens or capricious fate.

For the Atlantic provinces have mastered the art of dividing and conquering themselves. Take our chronic inability to introduce the kind of internal free trade pact that has helped the West thrive and prosper. Or the endless debate over the Atlantic Gateway, which I would define as an extended effort to get federal money to build better supply chain connections through the region.

The West already enjoys the benefits of Pacific Gateway funding, you say. And you would be right. But the ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver actually found a way to co-operatively improve shipping services through the West Coast instead of competing for every scrap of federal aid.

In our region, it’s every port and province for itself, and the resulting babble of demands gives Ottawa both an excuse and a darned good reason for biding its time. You can almost hear them sighing around the federal cabinet table. “Can’t those people get their act together?”

It’s time to prove the carpers and the chiders wrong. A good start would be a clear, well-defined, four-province position on an Atlantic Gateway project. In short, let’s use the burden of our history not to complain that it’s happening to us all over again but to stop it from doing so, and to find a way to a more progressive future.  

Jim Meek is a freelance writer and consultant with Bristol. He can be reached at jmeek@bristolgroup.ca