- Maritime Rights Movement
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The Maritime Rights Movement arose in the 1920s in response to perceived unfair economic policies in Canada that were affecting the economies of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. At a time of rural protest in Canada from Ontario to the Prairies, the Movement was a broad-based protest demanding better treatment from Ottawa. It was centered in Saint John, New Brunswick, where the city's business leaders politicized the economic crisis and solidified their economic and political leadership.[1]
The "movement" attempted to address issues relating to interprovincial trade barriers, freight rates on railways, and various other indicators that were believed to be behind an economic decline since the early 20th century and aggravated by World War I.
The "Duncan Commission" of enquiry was established in 1926 by Prime Minister MacKenzie King to address the issues raised by the Maritime Rights Movement. It made recommendations to lower tariffs, decrease freight rates, and change other federal policies to help the regional economy, however few of these recommendations were ever implemented as King largely ignored the commission
Notes
- ^ Don Nerbas, "Revisiting the Politics of Maritime Rights: Bourgeois Saint John and Regional Protest in the 1920s," Acadiensis, Winter/Spring2008, Vol. 37 Issue 1, pp 110-130
Further reading
- Ernest R. Forbes. The Maritime Rights Movement, 1919-1927 (1979)
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