WI The Maritime provinces united before Confederation?

To expand the topic, the Maritime provinces rejoined Nova Scotia, I would say the capital is Charlettown in 1840. It is the least offensive location to NewBrunswick and is noteither Saint John or Moncton for Nova Scotians. When Canada cones a knocking after ACW, they relax on the inter-provincial tariff, and allow the regrouped Nova Scotia it's preferable trade ties to the Carribean-New England-UK circle route. It would give Nova Scotia it's economical advantage and parity, while give the new nation a toe hold of the great circle trade.
 
Confederation rose out of discussions of a possible Maritime union, so the idea of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and possibly Newfoundland confederating, with Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba etc being added later doesn't strike me as being too much of a stretch. The only issue is that as soon as you add Quebec/Ontario, the capital will inevitably be moved to either York, Montreal, or Quebec City, assuming that it is not sited at Ottawa as in OTL. The Maritimers may have a problem with that.
 
I would see three dominions in BNA first. Newfoundland has always been, well Newfoundland, they have had their energies focused on mainly fishing, and seafood manufacturing. Nova Scotia was heavily into fishing, and trade, with a developing manufacturing sector. Canada was more involved with grain production, tobacco, and cattle farming. Come the turn of the 20th C. Canada would have had a more developed manufacturing sector instead of drawing the Maritime manufacturing away, with the implementation of the National Policy put in place after 1867, when Ontario and Quebec were still in the early stages of industrial development.

I've thought about writing a TL about this, and I have a good selection of sources to use, I'm just not well versed in it. I have figures and well constructed theories, well discussed with papered folk. If anyone would to help me work one out, I would be willing to put in the old college try.
 
Well, Sir John A. basically invited himself to what was supposed to have been a conference for uniting the Maritime provinces. So, have a different premier of Canada at that point, and it's entirely possible.

OTOH, PEI stayed out until AFTER BC (iirc), which is weird, so don't expect the capital to be Charlottetown!
 
The idea of Charlottetown as the capital would be to mollify PEI into the voltron-ing of Nova Scotia. They were keen to a Maritime Dominion, but worried about being a forgotten element in a greater Canada. It took them going bankrupt pretty much, for them to come around to Canada.

If it was George Brown, maybe. He was for the united Canadas legislature, opposite a Confederation with the splitting of E. & W. Canada. Shoot Canada would probably have become more federal if his bid for minster with A.A. Dorion came through. Brown was tres pragmatic. However he was a reciprocity supporter which would give him sway with the Maritime delegates.

Cartier I feel would have been the man. He was western focused with his concerns for French Canada being key for the development of a more bi-lingual Canada. There would have been more impetus with maintaining french in what would become Ontario, Manitoba.
 
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What would the attitude of Britain been? Would they have been trying to push the Maritimes into union with the rest of Canada?
 
What would the attitude of Britain been? Would they have been trying to push the Maritimes into union with the rest of Canada?

I wonder that, if only on the example of New Zealand not joining Australia. It happened later, to be sure, but that it happened at all could give a clue to how dominion-regionalism policies worked in the settler colonies.

I could see a Canadian Dominion the Maritimes and Newfoundland as separate dominions.
 
Having more dominions of economy than geography could make Imperial Preference an easier sell. There would be already niche markets, or services in each of the imperial routes.

Any economist with Edwardian economic structures understanding care to weigh in? I'm not that well versed in the grander Empirial trade as I am with North Atlantic. Provincial, I know.:D
 
I've been been googling around about what would happen if the Charlottetown Conference led to a Maritime Confederation/Union. It's not discussed much around here, but I found one thread where someone argued that North Americans really had no say in whether or not they confederate: https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=6455. I don't know if that's true. It seems that confederation happened exactly when the residents wanted it to. Someone who knows their history can enlighten me.

Since I'm a bit romantic in my taste of AH, I would like the Maritimes to stay apart from Canada for as long as possible. If they can stick around until the present day, like New Zealand, that's great. But I can see it getting absorbed into Canada in the 1860s like OTL or around 1833 like Newfoundland did. Wishful thinking says that the Maritime Confederation has a republican revolution and never unites with Canada.

I think that if the Maritime Provinces form a federal system, Newfoundland is likely to join soon after, because Newfoundland expressed an interest in the Charlottetown Conference before Canada was invited. I think there would be obstacles to the Maritime Confederation merging with the Province of Canada, because the Maritimers would like their relative freedom, their constitution would not be built for introducing a new giant gorilla province, and their British overlords might be satisfied with the amount of unification that's already there. The Maritimes might join Canada anyway, but it would be that much harder. If they do not merge with Canada, Canada is likely to acquire Rupert's Land and BC. I suppose when they acquire BC, Canada would develop a federal system modeled after their little neighbor to east.

On the other hand, if the Maritime Provinces unite into a single province with a single legislature, I think there is very little to prevent them from becoming a province of the Dominion of Canada in a couple years. I think that this is closer to what was expressed in the original post. Maritimia (pardon the bad name) would be a more influential province than its parts, but it would also be more of a mouthpiece for Nova Scotia. I don't know what affect this would have on Newfoundland.

I know that the original post talked about the Maritimes uniting in the 1840s, and I've been thinking about the 1860s. Off the top of my head, I don't know which one is more likely to a long-lasting Maritime Union.
 
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