CANADA’S UNITY THREATENED.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 19 March 1926, Page 9

CANADA’S UNITY THREATENED.

Growth Of Separation Movement. DISCONTENT IN MARITIME PROVINCES. By C»bla —Press Association —Copyrlfht Reuter’s Telegrams. (Received March 18, 5.5 p.m. NEW YORK, March 17. Speaking at Boston, Major Daniel Owen, K.C., Annapolis (Nova Scotia), and a member of the Canadian Air Service, declared that tho piesent generation would see the separation of throe maritime provinces from the rest of Canada. “The movement for separation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, has been gathering momentum i 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 bo 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. None want it, but it is a struggle for the very existence of the maritime provinces. I would hesitate to say that civil war is possible, although it has been said so recently in public.”

Major Owen said that secession did not mean annexation to the United States, but tho establishment of a separate Dominion or Crown Colony. “Three eastern provinces,” he added, “hold only twenty-nine seats of a total of more than 250 in the House of Commons. We cannot hope to secure anything equitable from the dominance of tho industrial provinces of Upper Canada.”