A more regionally focused, executive government would have realized that, in the mid 1800s half of Nova Scotia spoke Gaelic. Either as a second language, or principally at home. The idea of publicly funded education comes to mind, but I guess governemnt education is a of only a slight help in the standarization of languages.
Shoot, by 1838, Cape breton itself had over 30,000 gaelic speakers. Ceilidh Days are a mark of that today. My fathers family (immediate/extended) spoke it at home until the the 1970's when most of that generation went either west, or Halifax ways. My Mothers family still do.
Also during this period, the Saint John river valley was experiancing a boom of both Irish and Scottish populations, who also spoke Gaelic. Granted a fair amount of these were Lowlander Scots, but there were half as many Highlander.
A good read would be "Highland Settler : A Portrait of the Scottish Gaelic in Cape Breton and Eastern Nova Scotia" by Charles Dunn
Hit up the CBU website to boot.
I dig the premise, it's a question I've asked myself. It would deffinately have made travelling the Acadien Coast interesting to hear the accents.