Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia
Nouvelle-Écosse, Alba Nuadh

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit (Latin) "One defends and the other conquers"
250px
Capital	Halifax
Largest city	Halifax Regional Municipality
Official languages	English
Government
- Lieutenant-Governor	Mayann E. Francis
- Premier	Rodney MacDonald (PC)
Federal representation	in Canadian Parliament
- House seats	11
- Senate seats	10
Confederation	July 1, 1867 (1st)
Area	Ranked 12th
- Total	55,283 km² (21,345 sq mi)
- Land	53,338 km² (20,594 sq mi)
- Water (%)	1,946 km² (751 sq mi) (3.5%)
Population	Ranked 7th
- Total (2006)	934,405
- Density	16.94/km² (43.9/sq mi)
GDP	Ranked 7th
- Total (2005)	$31.451 billion
- Per capita	$33,533 (11th)
Abbreviations
- Postal	NS
- ISO 3166-2	CA-NS
Time zone	UTC-4
Postal code prefix	B
Flower	Mayflower
Tree	Red Spruce
Bird	Osprey
Web site	www.gov.ns.ca
Rankings include all provinces and territories

Nova Scotia (Latin for New Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Alba Nuadh; French: Nouvelle-Écosse) is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in the Maritimes, and its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada, with an area of 55,284 km². Its population of 934,405 makes it the fourth least populous province of the country, though second most densely populated.

Nova Scotia's economy is traditionally largely resource-based, but has in recent decades become more diverse. Industries such as fishing, mining, forestry and agriculture remain very important, and have been joined by tourism, technology, film production, music and the financial service industries.

The province includes several regions of the Mi'kmaq nation of Mi'gma'gi, which covered all of the Maritimes, as well as parts of Maine, the Gaspé, and Newfoundland. Nova Scotia was already home to the Mi'kmaq people when the first European colonists arrived. In 1604, French colonists established the first permanent European settlement north of Florida at Port Royal, founding what would become known as Acadia. The British Empire obtained control of the region between 1713 and 1760, and established a new capital at Halifax in 1749. In 1867 Nova Scotia was one of the founding provinces of the Canadian Confederation, along with New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada (which became the separate provinces of Quebec and Ontario).

Geography

Map of Nova Scotia

The province's mainland is the Nova Scotia peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, including numerous bays and estuaries. Cape Breton Island, a large island to the northeast of the Nova Scotian mainland, is also part of the province, as is Sable Island, a small island notorious for its shipwrecks, approximately 175 km (95 nm) from the province's southern coast. Nova Scotia is Canada's second smallest province in area (after Prince Edward Island).

Top Ten Counties by Population

County	2001	2006
Halifax	359,111	372,679
Cape Breton (county)	105,968	102,250
Lunenburg County	47,591	47,150
Kings County	58,866	60,035
Pictou County	46,965	46,513
Colchester County	49,307	50,023
Cumberland County	32,605	32,046
Yarmouth County	26,843	26,277
East Hants	20,821	21,387
Annapolis County	21,773	21,438

Economy

File:Contrails over Nova Scotia.jpeg

A satellite photo of Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia's economy has traditionally been largely resource-based, but has in recent decades become more diverse.

The founding of Nova Scotia was driven by the ready availability of natural resources, especially the fish stocks of the Scotian shelf. A pillar of the economy from its development by the French in the 1600s, the collapse of the cod stocks in 1992, which also eliminated approximately 20,000 jobs, has been followed by a slow but steady decline of the sector as a whole as most stocks are under stress.

The per capita GDP in 2005 was $31,344, lower than the national GDP of $34,273 and less than half of that Canada's richest province, Alberta.

Mining is also a significant sector, especially of gypsum, salt and barite. Since 1991, offshore oil and gas has become a more important part of the economy. Agriculture remains an important sector in the province. Around the central part of nova scotia, lumber and paper makes much of the employment.

Government & Politics

File:NS Legislative Chamber.jpg

Nova Scotia House of Assembly

The government of Nova Scotia is a parliamentary democracy. Its unicameral legislature, the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, consists of fifty-two members. As Canada's head of state, Queen Elizabeth II is the head of Nova Scotia's Executive Council, which serves as the Cabinet of the provincial government. Her Majesties duties in Nova Scotia are carried out by her representative, the Lieutenant-Governor, currently Mayann E. Francis. The government is headed by the Premier, Rodney MacDonald, who took office February 22, 2006. Halifax is home to the House of Assembly and Lieutenant-Governor.

The province's revenue comes mainly from the taxation of personal and corporate income, although taxes on tobacco and alcohol, its stake in the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, and oil and gas royalties are also significant. In 2006/07, the Province passed a budget of $6.9 billion, with a projected $72 million surplus. Federal equalization payments account for $1.385 billion, or 20.07% of the provincial revenue. While Nova Scotians have enjoyed balanced budgets for several years, the accumulated debt exceeds $12 billion (including forecasts of future liability, such as pensions and environmental cleanups), resulting in slightly over $897 million in debt servicing payments, or 12.67% of expenses. The province participates in the HST, a blended sales tax collected by the federal government using the GST tax system.

Nova Scotia has elected three minority governments over the last decade. The Progressive Conservative government of John Hamm, and now Rodney MacDonald, has required the support of the New Democratic Party or Liberal Party since the election in 2003. Nova Scotia's politics are divided on regional lines in such a way that it has become difficult to elect a majority government. Rural mainland Nova Scotia has largely been aligned behind the Progressive Conservative Party, Halifax Regional Municipality has overwhelmingly supported the New Democrats, with Cape Breton voting for Liberals with a few Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats. This has resulted in a ⅓ split of votes on a Province wide basis for each party, and difficulty in any party gaining a majority. Progressive Conservative Premier Dr. Hamm announced his retirement in late 2005 and was replaced by Rodney MacDonald after MacDonald won a closely contested leadership convention, defeating former finance minister, and the race's front runner, Neil LeBlanc on the first ballot and Halifax businessman Bill Black on the second. MacDonald is the second youngest premier in Nova Scotia's history.

The last election on June 13th 2006 elected 23 Progressive Conservatives, 20 New Democrats and 9 Liberals, leaving Nova Scotia with a Progressive Conservative minority government.

Nova Scotia no longer has any incorporated cities, as they were amalgamated into Regional Municipalities in the 1996: Halifax, the provincial capital, is now part of the Halifax Regional Municipality; Sydney, is now part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, and; Dartmouth, the second largest city in Nova Scotia, was amalgamated into the Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996. The officially the capital of Nova Scotia is the Halifax Regional Municipality community of Halifax.

The House of Assembly passed a motion in 2004 inviting the Turks and Caicos Islands to join the province, should these Caribbean islands renew their wish to join Canada[1]

Education

In the Province of Nova Scotia, the Minister of Education is responsible for the administration and delivery of education, as defined by the Education Act and other acts relating to colleges, universities and private schools. The powers of the Minister and the Department of Education are defined by the Ministerial regulations and constrained by the Governor-In-Council regulations.

Nova Scotia has more than 450 public schools for children. The public system offers Primary to Grade 12. There are also some private schools in the province. Public education is administered by seven regional school boards, responsible primarily for English instruction and French immersion, and also province wide by the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial, which administer French instruction to students for whom the primary language is French.

The Nova Scotia Community College system has 13 campuses around the province. The community college, with its focus on training and education, was established in 1988 by amalgamating the Province's former vocational schools.

The Province has 11 universities and colleges. Some of the more popular ones being Dalhousie University, University of King's College, Saint Mary's University (Halifax), Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Acadia University, Saint Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Cape Breton University.

Culture & Demographics

Despite the small population of the province, Nova Scotia's music and culture is influenced by several well established cultural groups, that are sometimes referred to as the "Founding Cultures."

Originally populated by the Mi'kmaq First Nation, the first European settlers were the French, who founded Acadia in 1604. Nova Scotia was briefly colonized by Scottish settlers in 1620, though by 1624 the Scottish settlers had been removed by treaty and the area was turned over to the French until the mid-1700s. After the defeat of the French and prior expulsion of the Acadians, settlers of English, Irish, Scottish and African descent began arriving on the shores of Nova Scotia.

Settlement was greatly accelerated by the resettlement of Loyalists in Nova Scotia during the period following the end of the American revolutionary war. It was during this time that a large African Nova Scotian community took root, populated by freed slaves and Loyalist blacks and their families, who had fought for the crown in exchange for land. This community later grew when the Royal Navy began intercepting slave ships destined for the United States, and deposited these free slaves on the shores of Nova Scotia.

Later, in the 1800s the Irish Famine and, especially, the Scottish Highland Clearances resulted in large influxes of migrants with Celtic cultural roots, which helped to define the dominantly Celtic character of Cape Breton and the north mainland of the province. This Gaelic influence continues to play an important role in defining the cultural life of the province, though less than 500 Nova Scotians today are fluent in Scottish Gaelic. Nearly all live in Antigonish County or on Cape Breton Island.

Modern Nova Scotia is a mix of many cultures. The government works to support Mi'kmaq, French, Gaelic and African-Nova Scotian culture through the establishment of government Secretariats, as well as colleges, educational programs and cultural centres. The Province is also eager to attract new immigrants, but has had minimal success. The major population centres at Halifax and Sydney are the most cosmopolitan, hosting large Arab populations (in the former) and Eastern European populations (in the later). Halifax Regional Municipality hosts a yearly Multicultural Festival.

Symbols of Nova Scotia
Official Dog	Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever 50px
Official Gemstone	Agate
Official Tartan	Nova Scotia Tartan 50px
Official Mineral	Stilbite 50px
Official Fossil	Hylonomus lyelli 50px

Demographics and statistics

According to the 2001 Canadian census the largest ethnic group in Nova Scotia is Scottish (29.3%), followed by English (28.1%), Irish (19.9%), French (16.7%), German (10.0%), Dutch (3.9%), and First Nations (3.1%) - although almost half of all respondents identified their ethnicity as "Canadian."

Arts and culture

Nova Scotia is host to a vibrant arts and music scene that struggles from chronic underfunding.

The province is the heart of a vibrant and increasingly popular style of Celtic music and dance derived from the influence of its Highland Scottish settlement, concentrated especially on Cape Breton Island. The basic duo of fiddle and piano provide a strongly-accented dance music in small-town church and community halls. Sometimes a guitar is augmented, and Highland bagpipe music is also popular. In many ways the music and dance over two centuries of relative physical isolation provides a snapshot of Scottish music and dance as it was before its European base took other, more "refined" routes, and today Cape Breton fiddle music has taken a place as a major attraction at Celtic cultural festivals, the best-known proponents outside the province being Buddy MacMaster and his neice Natalie MacMaster, as well as the Beaton and Rankin families.

Tourism

The lighthouse situated on Peggys Point, immediately south of Peggys Cove.

The Nova Scotia Tourism Industry is more than 6,500 direct businesses supporting almost 40,000 jobs. [2]

Climate

Nova Scotia lies in the northern temperate zone and, although the province is almost surrounded by water, the climate is continental rather than maritime. The temperature extremes of the continental climate are moderated by the ocean.

Described on a provincial vehicle license plate as Canada's Ocean Playground, the sea is a major influence on Nova Scotia's climate. Nova Scotia is known to have mild winters and warm summers. The province is surrounded by three major bodies of water, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the north, the Bay of Fundy to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and east.

Over its 350-mile (565 kilometers) length, Nova Scotia has a modified continental climate, comparable to that of northern Europe. Rarely does the temperature exceed 31° C (88° F) or fall below -10° C (14° F) anywhere in the province. The southwestern and southern shores of Nova Scotia have both milder and wetter climates than the rest of the province. Rainfall varies from 1.4 metres (55 inches) in the south, where fog may occur on as many as 90 days, to 1 metre (40 inches) elsewhere.

The averages annual temperatures are:

Spring from 2° to 9° C
Summer from 16° to 24° C
Fall about 18° C
Winter about -3° C

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

As Nova Scotia juts out into the Atlantic, it is prone to tropical storms and hurricanes in the summer and autumn.

There have been 33 such storms, including 12 hurricanes, since records were kept in 1871 - about once per four years. The last hurricane was Hurricane Juan in September 2003, and the last tropical storm was in Tropical Storm Ophelia in 2005.

http://www.hurricanecity.com/city/halifax.htm

History

Paleo-Indians camped at locations in present-day Nova Scotia approximately 11,000 years ago. Archaic Indians are believed to have been present in the area between 1,000 and 5,000 years ago. Mi'kmaq, the First Nations of the province and region, are their direct descendants.

Some believe that the Vikings may have settled in Nova Scotia at some time, though there is little evidence of this and the claim is disputed by historians. The only authenticated Viking settlement in North America is L'Anse aux Meadows, which establishes the fact that Vikings explored North America 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

While there is some debate over where he landed, it is most widely believed that the Italian explorer John Cabot visited present-day Cape Breton in 1497. [3]. The first European settlement in Nova Scotia was established in 1604. The French, led by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts established the first capital for the colony Acadia at Port Royal in 1604 at the head of the Annapolis Basin. Also, French Fisherman established a settelment at Canso the same year.

In 1620, the Plymouth Council for New England, under King James I (of England) & VI (of Scots) designated the whole shorelines of Acadia and the Mid-Atlantic colonies south to the Chesapeake Bay as New England. The first documented Scottish settlement in the Americas was of Nova Scotia in 1621. On 29 September 1621, the charter for the foundation of a colony was granted by James VI to Sir William Alexander and, in 1622, the first settlers left Scotland.

This settlement initially failed due to difficulties in obtaining a sufficient number of skilled emigrants and in 1624, James VI created a new order of Baronets; admission to this order was obtained by sending 6 labourers or artisans, sufficiently armed, dressed & supplied for 2 years, to Nova Scotia, or by paying 3,000 merks to William Alexander. For 6 months, no one took up this offer until James compelled one to make the first move.

In 1627, there was a wider uptake of baronetcies, and thus more settlers available to go to Nova Scotia. However, in 1627, war broke out between England and France and the French re-established a settlement at Port Royal which they had originally settled. Later that year, a combined Scottish and English force destroyed the French settlement, forcing them out. In 1629, the first Scottish settlement at Port Royal was inhabited. The colony's charter, in law, made Nova Scotia (defined as all land between Newfoundland and New England) a part of mainland Scotland, this was later used to get around the English navigation acts. However, this did not last long: in 1631, under King Charles I, the Treaty of Suza was signed which returned Nova Scotia to the French. The Scots were forced by Charles to abandon their mission before their colony had been properly established and the French assumed control of the Mi'kmaq and other First Nations territory.

In 1654, King Louis XIV of France appointed aristocrat Nicholas Denys as Governor of Acadia and granted him the confiscated lands and the right to all its minerals. English colonists captured Acadia in the course of King William's War, but England returned the territory to France in the Treaty of Ryswick at the wars end. The territory was recaptured by forces loyal to Britain during the course of Queen Anne's War, and its conquest confirmed by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. France retained possession of Île St Jean (Prince Edward Island) and Île Royale (Cape Breton Island), on which it established a fortress at Louisbourg to guard the sea approaches to Quebec. This fortress was captured by American colonial forces then returned by the British to France, then ceded again after the French and Indian War of 1755.

Thus mainland Nova Scotia became a British colony in 1713, although Samuel Vetch had a precarious hold on the territory as governor from the fall of Acadian Port-Royal (Annapolis Royal) in October 1710. British governing officials became increasingly concerned over the unwillingness of the French-speaking, Roman Catholic Acadians, who were the majority of colonists, to pledge allegiance to the British Crown, then George II. The colony remained mostly Acadian despite the establishment of Halifax as the province's capital, and the settlement of a large number of foreign Protestants (some French and Swiss but mostly German) at Lunenburg in 1753. In 1755, the British forcibly expelled the over 12,000 Acadians in what became known as the Grand Dérangement, or Great Expulsion.

The colony's jurisdiction changed during this time. Nova Scotia was granted a supreme court in 1754 with the appointment of Jonathan Belcher and a Legislative Assembly in 1758. In 1763 Cape Breton Island became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island) became a separate colony. The county of Sunbury was created in 1765, and included all of the territory of current day New Brunswick and eastern Maine as far as the Penobscot River. In 1784 the western, mainland portion of the colony was separated and became the province of New Brunswick, and the territory in Maine entered the control of the newly independent American state of Massachusetts. Cape Breton became a separate colony in 1784 only to be returned to Nova Scotia in 1820.

During the colonial period, Nova Scotia issued its own postage stamps printed in England. This distinctive diamond shape (issued between 1851 and 1857) was also used by neighboring New Brunswick.

Ancestors of more than half of present-day Nova Scotians arrived in the period following the Acadian Expulsion. Between 1759 and 1768, about 8000 New England Planters responded to Governor Charles Lawrence's request for settlers from the New England colonies. Several years later, approximately 30,000 United Empire Loyalists (American Tories) settled in Nova Scotia (when it comprised present-day Maritime Canada) following the defeat of the British in the American Revolutionary War. Of these 30,000, 14,000 went to New Brunswick and 16,000 went to Nova Scotia. Approximately 3,000 of this group were slaves of African ancestry, about a third of which soon relocated themselves to Sierra Leone in 1792. Large numbers of Gaelic-speaking Highland Scots emigrated to Cape Breton and the western part of the mainland during the late 18th century and 19th century. About one thousand Ulster Scots settled in mainly central Nova Scotia during this time, as did just over a thousand farming migrants from Yorkshire and Northumberland between 1772 and 1775.

Nova Scotia was the first colony in British North America and in the British Empire to achieve responsible government in January-February 1848 and become self-governing through the efforts of Joseph Howe. Pro-Confederate premier Charles Tupper led Nova Scotia into the Canadian Confederation in 1867, along with New Brunswick and the Province of Canada.

In the Provincial election of 1868, the Anti-Confederation Party won 18 out of 19 Federal seats, and 36 out of 38 seats in the provincial legislature. For seven years, William Annand and Joseph Howe led the ultimately unsuccessful fight to convince British Imperial authorities to release Nova Scotia from Confederation. The government was vocally against Confederation, contending that it was no more than the annexation of the Province to the pre-existing province of Canada:

"...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."

from Address to the Crown by the Government (Journal of the House of Assembly, Province of Nova Scotia, 1868)

A motion passed by the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1868 refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Confederation has never been rescinded. Repeal, as anti-confederation became known, would rear its head again in the 1880s, and transform into the Maritime Rights Movement in the 1920s. Some Nova Scotia flags flew at half mast on Canada Day as late as that time.

See also

• Scotia
• List of airports in Nova Scotia
• List of articles on Nova Scotia by topic
• List of renowned Nova Scotians
• The Gaelic Language in Canada
• List of Nova Scotia schools
• Cape Breton Island
• Cape Breton Regional Municipality
• Halifax Regional Municipality
• Sable Island
• Bay of Fundy - renowned for having the world's highest tides
• Kejimkujik National Park
• List of parks in Nova Scotia
• List of Nova Scotia counties
• List of communities in Nova Scotia
• List of Nova Scotia rivers
• Nova Scotia House of Assembly
• List of Nova Scotia lieutenant-governors
• List of Nova Scotia premiers
• List of cities in Canada
• List of Nova Scotia provincial highways
• List of Canadian provincial and territorial symbols
• Sunday shopping
• Same-sex marriage in Nova Scotia
• List of colleges and universities in Nova Scotia
• Petroleum Pricing in Nova Scotia
• Scouting in Nova Scotia
• Emergency Health Services in Nova Scotia
• Central Nova Tourist Association
• Goler clan

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• DESSERUD, D. A. 1999. "An Outpost's Response: The Language and Politics of Moderation in Eighteenth-Century Nova Scotia". AMERICAN REVIEW OF CANADIAN STUDIES. 29: 379-406.
• Mancke, Elizabeth. 2005. The fault lines of empire: political differentiation in Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, ca. 1760-1830. New World in the Atlantic world. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0415950007 and ISBN 9780415950008 Online version. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
• Whitelaw, William Menzies. 1934. The Maritimes and Canada before Confederation. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Online version. Retrieved May 9, 2008.

External links

All links Retrieved May 10, 2008.

Official links

• The Climate of Nova Scotia

Other links

• Nova Scotia Monuments
• Panoramic Photos of Nova Scotia
• Little-Known Portions of Nova Scotia History

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