Exactly what it says in the title. Without expanding Canada territorially, what would be the plausible maximum amount of provinces in the Confederation?
Exactly what it says in the title. Without expanding Canada territorially, what would be the plausible maximum amount of provinces in the Confederation?
Well, we've got ten today. The three territories could be made into provinces, so that's 13. Cape Breton had a strong secessionist movement at one point, so there's 14. A Province of Toronto makes sense if Canada is undergoing constitutional revisions (or perhaps Toronto and Montreal), so that's 15-16. Past that, granting the First Nations the status of provinces has long been a proposed way to increase their autonomy and empowerment within the Canadian constitutional framework: in that case, depending on which First Nations get that status, that could be a lot of provinces.
Not only that, but I imagine the indigenous leadership of Nunavut wouldn't want the term province of Canada, but instead see themselves as a nation within Canada.The three territories have a combined population that's only about 2/3 the size of PEI's. I doubt they'll ever be provinces.
Past that, granting the First Nations the status of provinces has long been a proposed way to increase their autonomy and empowerment within the Canadian constitutional framework: in that case, depending on which First Nations get that status, that could be a lot of provinces.
The Lower Peninsula of Michigan could have well remained British, but London sent its C-team negotiators to the 1794 Jay Treaty, while Washington sent its A-team.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan#18th_century
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So, with reasonable PODs, Michigan could certainly have been another Canadian province.