The loss of twenty United Nations merchant ships in the St. Lawrence River and Gulf, including the Nova Scotia-Newfoundland ferry steamer Caribou with a loss of 137 lives, brought the war very close to Nova Scotia during the year. The sinking of the Caribou was particularly sobering since the dead included sixteen women and fourteen children, together with many other non-combatants. The shock of these losses was the more severe because hitherto Nova Scotia had benefited from the war. Its shipping, paper, and steel industries have felt the effects of the war boom far more than the industries of some of the other provinces. On Cape Breton Island, the steel industry underwent an expansion of 40 per cent in the first year of the war. The following year saw an even greater boom in the secondary steel industry at Trenton and New Glasgow — which has been cut down by labor difficulties. There has also been considerable construction and development at the port of Halifax.
Nova Scotia strongly supported Prime Minister King in his request for release from his promise not to draft men for overseas service, voting 'yes' by approximately four to one in the Apr. 27 plebiscite.
The population of Nova Scotia in 1941 was 573,190 as against 512,846 in the 1931 census, according to figures released early in 1942. Since the gain was close to the average for Canada as a whole, no change was made in Nova Scotia's representation in Parliament.
No comments:
Post a Comment