Canadian-American Reciprocity Treaty

Roar from the sea

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        First and foremost, the Canadian-American Reciprocity Treaty signed a decade before the confederation promoted Canada’s business ties with America. As Canada’s export to America increased, the Maritime economy prospered. However, the cancellation of the treaty as a result of Canada’s war with America began to threaten the economy of the region. More importantly, I feel the attitude of Canada towards becoming a confederation at the expense of the Maritimes proved detrimental to the economy of the Maritimes. For instance, before the confederation, the Maritime population enjoyed their unlimited economic potential under their British Colonial rulers. After confederation, the new Canada was motivated to show a westward transcontinental expansion by putting down the interests of the Maritimes. As a result, more and more immigrants moved to the interior areas leaving the Maritimes with no natural or human resources for further development.

        Maritime ports continued to serve the trade interests of Canada even at the cost of discriminated freight charges imposed upon them. After confederation, economic development of Canada was centered on the oil and gas generating regions located on the western side of the country. Moreover, the economic policies of Canada did not favor the development of the Maritimes. For instance, instead of taking advantage of their traditional ports and importing goods from England, the Maritime Provinces were forced to import essential goods from other regions of Canada like Montreal through rail routes by paying heavy duties. This in due course reduced the Maritime Provinces to mere consuming ones rather than producing ones. Furthermore, I believe that the locality of the Maritime Provinces on the eastern end far away from the Canadian mainland, both geographically and strategically, made it ill-suited for continuous attention and development. Also, the fact that Maritimes had no legitimate place in the National Policies of Canada because of the attitude of politicians ultimately proved detrimental to the economic development of the area.      

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