Atlantic Canada


Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces, is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three provinces of The Maritimes – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island – and the easternmost province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The population of the four Atlantic provinces in 2016 was about 2,300,000 on half a million km2. The provinces combined had an approximate GDP of $121.888 billion in 2011.

History

The first premier of Newfoundland, Joey Smallwood, coined the term "Atlantic Canada" when Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. He believed that it would have been presumptuous for Newfoundland to assume that it could include itself within the existing term "Maritime Provinces," used to describe the cultural similarities shared by New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. The three Maritime provinces entered Confederation during the 19th century.
Although Quebec has physical Atlantic coasts on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Ungava Bay, and the Hudson Strait, it is generally not considered an Atlantic Province, instead being classified as part of Central Canada along with Ontario. Atlantic and Central Canada together are also known as Eastern Canada.
2016 census figures for "Metropolitan Areas" and "Population Centres" in Atlantic Canada. The list includes communities above 10,000, by Metropolitan Area population, or 5,000 by Population Centre population.
CommunityProvincePopulation Population
HalifaxNova Scotia403,390316,701
St. John'sNewfoundland and Labrador205,955178,427
MonctonNew Brunswick144,810108,620
Saint JohnNew Brunswick126,20258,341 – Saint John
Saint JohnNew Brunswick126,20224,445 – Quispamsis-Rothesay
FrederictonNew Brunswick101,76059,405
Cape BretonNova Scotia98,72229,904 – Sydney
Cape BretonNova Scotia98,72217,556 – Glace Bay
Cape BretonNova Scotia98,72212,823 – Sydney Mines
CharlottetownPrince Edward Island69,32544,739
TruroNova Scotia45,75322,954
New GlasgowNova Scotia34,48718,665
Corner BrookNewfoundland and Labrador31,91719,547
BathurstNew Brunswick31,11015,557
MiramichiNew Brunswick27,52311,329 – Chatham-Douglastown
KentvilleNova Scotia26,22212,088
EdmundstonNew Brunswick23,52412,086
SummersidePrince Edward Island16,58713,814
Grand Falls-WindsorNewfoundland and Labrador14,17112,046
GanderNewfoundland and Labrador13,23410,220
CampbelltonNew Brunswick10,4116,883