NovaScotian

I used to think that all economists where uber theorical free-marketers that thought taxes where the devils work and welfare was evil.... but after working with them in class it was the opposite. They where all free market, but they also knew it had limits and that governments had to intervene into the market to make corrections. They also stressed the economic importance of taxes, welfare and equalization.

Last year PEI had a chance to be a leader in electoral reform. After several years of study,it had all culminated in a recommendation that the province adopt a Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) system as well as moved to elections being held on a fixed 4-year schedule. The opportunity was there to begin reform,Canada watched,PEI said No. The ones that like playing the fiddle appears to be the Maritimers themselves. Don't get me wrong, I think the Atlantic Canadians are generally a backward bunch. However when a reform effort is undertaken - no matter how small - it should be supported. P.s I am not a member of the Atlantica Party...not yet anyway.

Everytime the maritimes try to come up with a way to fix our provinces we get ridiculed and basically told to go back and play the fiddle. Nova Scotia should have never had joined confederation in 1867. "the scheme [confederation with Canada] by them assented to would, if adopted, deprive the people [of Nova Scotia] of the inestimable privilege of self-government, and of their rights, liberty, and independence, rob them of their revenue, take from them the regulation of trade and taxation, expose them to arbitrary taxation by a legislature over which they have no control, and in which they would possess but a nominal and entirely ineffective representation; deprive them of their invaluable fisheries, railroads, and other property, and reduce this hitherto free, happy, and self-governed province to a degraded condition of a servile dependency of Canada." Excerpted from the Address to the Crown by the Government, from the Journal of the House of Assembly, Province of Nova Scotia, 1868

Quebec is a equalization receiver. The maritimes wouldnt be third world, services would suffer greatly though. "they have no real regional power " That was and still is the problem with maritime confederation with Canada.