MAY SECEDE

Southland Times, Issue 19822, 19 March 1926, Page 7

MAY SECEDE

MARITIME PROVINCES TROUBLE LOOMING IN CANADA CIVIL WAR NOT IMPOSSIBLE. (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) New York, Mar. 17. Speaking at Boston, Major Daniel Owen, K.C., of Annapolis, Nova Scotia, a member of the Canadian Air Service, declared that the present generation would see the separation of the three maritime provinces from the rest of Canada. “The movement for the separation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, has been gathering momentum steadily for years,” he said, “and it has attained added strength within the last few months. Next year will see the beginning of an organised effort which will crystallise the sentiment so long rampant. Secession can be accomplished only by decrees of the Imperial Government which can dissolve the Canadian Confederation, or by the method used by Ireland. Few expect it to come to that. No one wants it, but it is a struggle for the very existence of the maritime provinces. I would hesitate to say a civil war is possible, although it has been said so recently in public.” He said secession did not mean annexation to the United States, but the establishment of a separate dominion or Crown colony. “The three Eastern provinces hold only 29 seats of a total of more than 250 in the House of Commons,” he said. “We cannot hope to secure anything equitable from the dominance of the industrial provinces of Upper Canada.”—Reuter.