Prince Edward Island
province, Canada
Capital Charlottetown
Date of admission 1873
Provincial Motto "Parva sub ingenti (The small under the protection of the great)"
Provincial Flower lady’s slipper
Province (pop., 2006 est.: 135,851), Canada.
One of the Maritime Provinces and Canada’s smallest province, it is an island in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, separated from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by the Northumberland Strait. Its capital is Charlottetown. Discovered by Jacques Cartier in 1534, it was used by Mi’kmaq (Micmac) Indians for fishing and hunting. It was colonized by the French in 1720, then ceded to the British in 1763. Known as the “Cradle of Confederation,” it was the site of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864, which led to the federation of Canada. It became a province in 1873. It has good natural
harbors on its eastern and southern sides. There has been little industrial development, and more than half of the island is used for agriculture. Fishing and tourism are also of economic importance. In 1997 a bridge opened between Prince Edward Island and the mainland.
one of the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Curving from North Cape to East Point, the island is about 140 miles (225
kilometers) long, ranging from 2 to 40 miles (3 to 65 kilometers) in width. It lies between 46° and 47° N latitude, and 62° and 64° W longitude. On the south the Northumberland Strait separates the island by about nine miles from the mainland provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There are three counties: Prince, Queens, and Kings. The land area is 2,185 square miles (5,660 square
kilometers), making it the smallest of the Canadian provinces.
The original Mi’kmaq (Micmac) Indian metaphor Abegweit popularly translated “Cradled on the
Waves” aptly describes the slender crescent of land. During the French regime (1720–58) it was called Île Saint-Jean, but when the British took over they first Anglicized the name to Saint John’s Island
, then attempted to call it New Ireland, and finally named it for the Duke of Kent, commander of the British forces in North America. In 1867 Prince Edward Island became the seventh province of Canada. The name of its capital, Charlottetown, commemorates the wife of King George III.
Numerous streams, bays, and tidal estuaries indent the irregular coastline. On the north side the bays are generally blocked by dunes, but on the east and south there are good natural
harbors. Along the 1,100 miles of shoreline, red sandstone cliffs average about 20 feet (6
meters) in height but occasionally exceed 50 feet (15 meters). Most of the island is within 5 miles of the sea or a tidal inlet, and no spot is more than 10 miles from salt water. Water pollution has not been extensive, but effluents from processing plants, pesticides, erosion, oil leakage, and sedimentation have seriously degraded some water resources.
The landscape ranges from rolling hills in central Queens county to level stretches in western Prince county. The highest elevation is 466 feet (142
meters) above sea level in Queens county. The soils, classed as podzols, rest on a sandstone base and are low in plant nutrients and high in acidity. On more than half the island, the red, sandy loam is suitable for cultivation.
The province has a relatively mild climate. The average mean temperature is 42° F (6° C), and the mean annual precipitation is 40 inches (1,016
millimeters).
Forests cover two-fifths of the island. The original stands were mainly deciduous, but coniferous trees are now much more common. Besides the native birch, maple, pine, and spruce, foreign species include linden, horse chestnut, black walnut, and European mountain ash. Tall trees line town streets as well as country lanes.
Prior to European settlement, moose and caribou roamed the island, as did black bears up to the early 20th century. Wildcats were exterminated, but foxes and snowshoe hares endured, and the nearly depleted beaver has been reintroduced. Mink, weasels, and muskrats are numerous. The coyote and the prolific skunk are unwelcome invaders. The ruffed grouse is a native bird, but ring-necked pheasants and Hungarian partridges are imports. Canada geese and brant are regular migrants. Cormorants are increasing, while black ducks are diminishing. Island rivers support such fish as trout, perch, and salmon. There is an active wildlife conservation program.
Despite its largely rural character, Prince Edward Island is the most densely populated province in Canada. Population growth has been most apparent in the urban areas of Charlottetown and Summerside. The smaller towns, such as Souris, Kensington, and Tignish, have exhibited little change. Family farms are increasing in size but decreasing in numbers. Kings county is the least populated area.
More than three-fourths of the residents are descendants of early settlers from the British Isles: Highland Scots, Englishmen, and both southern and Ulster Irish. Other ancestral strains include several hundred loyalists, who settled after the American Revolution, and about 30 Acadian families, recorded in the census of 1765, who are the progenitors of several thousand present-day French-speaking island residents. Many original settlement patterns can still be traced in place-names and family names. The Acadians mostly live south of Rustico, near Cape Egmont, and west and north of Cascumpeque Bay. Since 1945 a number of Dutch families, as well as a sprinkling of Americans, Belgians, Lebanese, and Germans, have settled in Prince Edward Island.
Roman Catholics make up the largest religious denomination, followed by United Church members, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Baptists. English is the predominant language of the island; relatively few residents speak only French. Bilingualism is encouraged, however, by an optional French immersion program in the schools, and classroom instruction in French is available.
A fertile soil and temperate growing season favor agriculture; the island’s location makes it a base for lobster, shellfish, and
ground fish (cod, hake, flounder, and redfish) operations; and its sandy beaches, warm waters, and other tourist amenities attract hundreds of thousands of summer visitors. Despite the success of these major industries, the provincial economy has lagged appreciably behind national averages for productivity, employment, and per capita income. Limited resources, distance from large markets, high transportation costs, and the nation’s highest electric-power rates all hamper industrial enterprise.
During the late 20th century, federal-provincial agreements enabled the province to institute a series of reforms aimed at assisting the people to create viable economic enterprises for themselves. These included full exploitation of agriculture; development of tourist facilities; better use of forest assets; improvement of fisheries; expansion of manufacturing; public investment in housing, health, and welfare services; and the extension of programs of education and training. The reforms resulted in upgraded living standards, but with the growing dependence on government assistance and a strain on provincial resources.
Agriculture continues to serve as the economic base. The traditional primary crop is potatoes; turnips, hay, and grains are also grown. Dairying is a major industry, and there is some cattle and hog raising. Tobacco is grown in the eastern part of the island, and the raising of fur-bearing animals is pursued in the western part. Private woodlots yield both hardwood and softwood for lumber, pulpwood, and fuel.
Fishermen depend primarily on the lobster catch, but oysters, clams, and scallops are also important. A secondary industry is the harvesting of Irish moss (a seaweed) for its carrageenan, an extract with several commercial uses. Also lucrative are catches of cod, haddock, tuna, and mackerel. Onshore plants process and freeze sea products; several aquaculture enterprises are established.
Industrial development is encouraged by the P.E.I. Lending Authority. Shipping frozen fried potatoes, green vegetables, and berries is now a leading business activity. Food processing has evolved from many small local plants into a few large enterprises. More than 600,000 visitors each summer contribute to the island’s economy and social life.
Transportation problems have always challenged islanders. Cars and trucks having effectively displaced trains as passenger and freight carriers, the Canadian National Railway ceased rail services on the island in 1989. A bridge across Northumberland Strait, completed in 1997, links Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Until then, regular ferry services had been maintained between the island and the mainland provinces. Canadian Airlines and Air Canada fly daily routes between Charlottetown, Toronto, Montreal, and
centers in the Atlantic region. Potatoes, pulpwood, and other products are shipped from ports on the island’s south and east coasts.
The provincial government consists of the lieutenant governor and an Executive Council chosen from the 27 members of the Legislative Assembly. The premier heads the ministerial Executive Council, whose responsibilities include education, agriculture and forestry, fisheries and the environment, economic development and tourism, and health and social services.
The province is represented in the federal Parliament by one member from each of four electoral districts: Cardigan, Hillsborough, Malpeque, and Egmont. Four Senate appointments also are allotted to the province.
The Department of Education administers public education from primary grades through senior high school by means of three regional school boards.
The University of Prince Edward Island, at Charlottetown, was chartered in 1969 as a merger of two institutions that had originated more than a century earlier, Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan’s University. In 1983 the Atlantic Veterinary College was established within the provincial university. Holland College, also established in 1969, is an institute of applied arts and technology that offers courses in a number of communities on the island.
The Health and Social Services Department administers the provincial plan for universal medical care. Provincial agencies govern housing and pollution control.
Charlottetown is the main center of culture. Both amateur and professional productions are presented at the Confederation
Center of the Arts, which adjoins historic Province House in that city. This complex contains a large auditorium, an art gallery and museum, a children’s theatre, various studios, shops, and a public library.
Other communities benefit from the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation, with its network of regional facilities and cultural programs. The public library system has community branches and a mobile service. Several art galleries and small theatres operate outside Charlottetown. A multicultural festival is presented annually, and there are regional folk festivals, exhibitions, plowing matches, fiddling contests, and Highland Games. The annual music festival attracts thousands of participants from the schools of the province. The Evangeline district has a reconstructed Acadian Village, a cultural
center, and a museum. The island’s residents practice such handicrafts as weaving, pottery making, and woodworking.
Facilities and programs for sports and recreation are abundant. Every sizable community has an ice-skating rink; and golf courses, baseball and football (soccer) fields, and basketball courts are scattered throughout the island. All major sports are organized into leagues, and island athletes compete in regional and national meets. Harness races are run year-round and culminate in the Gold Cup and Saucer event in August.
Before European colonization, Mi’kmaq Indians from the mainland used the island for fishing, hunting, and some planting in the warmer seasons. Present-day descendants of these Indians subsist mainly on a small island in Malpeque Bay on the north shore.
Legend suggests that John Cabot, the English-sponsored Genoese-Venetian explorer, may have seen the island in 1497, although historians credit its discovery to Jacques Cartier, the French navigator, in June 1534. Claimed for France in 1603 by Samuel de Champlain, the first governor of French Canada (who called it Île Saint-Jean), it was not colonized until 1720, when 300 settlers from France established Port la Joie at the entrance to the
harbor of Charlottetown. In addition, fishermen and trappers from the French-speaking mainland colony of Acadia established several other small communities on the island. The French regime lasted only 38 years until the British occupied the island in 1758, dispersing more than 3,500 of the settlers.
The island was formally ceded to Great Britain in 1763, and six years later the colony was separated from Cape Breton and its first governor was appointed. Under British administration the island was surveyed and divided into three counties, each with a township and “royalty,” and 67 lots or townships of about 20,000 acres each. In 1767, proprietors, who were expected to promote settlement, were awarded 64 of these lots by ballot, and for the next century absentee-landlord problems beset the colony. Representative government was granted in 1851, and the Land Purchase Act of 1875 ended the controversial land tenure system. By 1900 the population reached 100,000.
In 1864 a conference called to discuss the Maritime Provinces’ union prepared the way for the confederation of all the Canadian provinces. This Charlottetown Conference was the forerunner of the Quebec Conference of 1867, which actually resulted in the founding of the Dominion of Canada. Prince Edward Island has thus been known as the “Cradle of Confederation,” even though it did not finally join the union until 1873, when forced to do so by severe financial troubles. Resourceful politicians then persuaded the federal government to make concessions that enabled the province to purchase the lands still held by foreign proprietors and resell them to resident farmers, to assume the debt of the island railway, and to obtain assurance of continuous communication with the mainland. Despite these advantages of confederation, the economy of Prince Edward Island remained chronically depressed and dependent on federal assistance through most of the 20th century.
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province
consisting of an island
of the same name. The maritime
province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population
(excluding the territories). The island has a few other names: "Garden of
the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands
throughout the province; and "Birthplace of Confederation", referring
to the Charlottetown
Conference in 1864.
According to the 2009 estimates, Prince Edward Island has 140,402 residents.
It is located in a rectangle defined roughly by 46°–47°N,
and 62°–64°30′W
and at 5,683.91 km²
(2,194.57 sq mi)
in size,
it is the 104th
largest island in the world, and Canada's
23rd largest island. The island was named for Prince
Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820), the fourth son of King
George III and the father of Queen
Victoria.
Prince Edward Island One
of the Maritime
Provinces it is an island in the southern Gulf
of St. Lawrence separated from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by the
Northumberland Strait. Its capital is Charlottetown.
Discovered by Jacques
Cartier in 1534, it was used by Mi’kmaq (Micmac) Indians for fishing and hunting. It was colonized by the French in
1720, then ceded to the British in 1763. Known as the “Cradle of
Confederation,” it was the site of the Charlottetown
Conference of 1864, which led to the federation of Canada. It became
a province in 1873. It has good natural harbors on its eastern and southern
sides. There has been little industrial development, and more than half of the
island is used for agriculture. Fishing and tourism are also of economic
importance. In 1997 a bridge opened between Prince Edward Island and the
mainland.
Numerous streams, bays, and tidal
estuaries indent the irregular coastline. On the north side the bays
are generally blocked by dunes, but on the east and south there are good natural
harbors. Along the 1,100 miles of shoreline, red sandstone cliffs average about
20 feet (6 meters) in height but occasionally exceed 50 feet (15 meters). Most
of the island is within 5 miles of the sea or a tidal inlet, and no spot is more
than 10 miles from salt
water. Water pollution has not been extensive, but effluents from
processing plants, pesticides, erosion, oil leakage, and sedimentation have
seriously degraded some water resources.
The landscape ranges from rolling hills in central Queens county to level
stretches in western Prince county. The highest elevation is 466 feet (142 meters) above sea
level in Queens county. The soils, classed as podzols, rest on a
sandstone base and are low in plant nutrients and high in acidity. On more than
half the island, the red, sandy loam is suitable for cultivation.
The province has a relatively mild climate. The average mean
temperature is 42° F (6° C), and the mean annual precipitation is
40 inches (1,016 millimeters).
Forests cover two-fifths of the island. The original stands were mainly
deciduous, but coniferous trees are now much more common. Besides the native
birch, maple, pine, and spruce, foreign species include linden, horse
chestnut , black
walnut, and European
mountain ash. Tall trees line town streets as well as country lanes.
Prior to European settlement, moose and caribou roamed the island, as did black
bears up to the early 20th century. Wildcats were exterminated, but
foxes and snowshoe hares endured, and the nearly depleted beaver has been
reintroduced. Mink, weasels, and muskrats are numerous. The coyote and the
prolific skunk are unwelcome invaders. The ruffed
grouse is a native bird, but ring-necked pheasants and Hungarian
partridges are imports. Canada geese and brant are regular migrants. Cormorants
are increasing, while black
ducks are diminishing. Island rivers support such fish as trout,
perch, and salmon. There is an active wildlife
conservation program.
A fertile soil and temperate growing
season favor agriculture; the island’s location makes it a base
for lobster, shellfish, and ground fish (cod, hake, flounder, and redfish)
operations; and its sandy beaches, warm waters, and other tourist amenities
attract hundreds of thousands of summer visitors. Despite the success of these
major industries, the provincial economy has lagged appreciably behind national
averages for productivity, employment, and per capita income. Limited resources,
distance from large markets, high transportation costs, and the nation’s
highest electric-power rates all hamper industrial enterprise.
During the late 20th century, federal-provincial agreements enabled the
province to institute a series of reforms aimed at assisting the people to
create viable economic enterprises for themselves. These included full
exploitation of agriculture; development of tourist facilities; better use of
forest assets; improvement of fisheries; expansion of manufacturing; public
investment in housing, health, and welfare services; and the extension of
programs of education and training. The reforms resulted in upgraded living
standards, but with the growing dependence on government assistance
and a strain on provincial resources.
The provincial economy is dominated by the seasonal industries of
agriculture, tourism, and the fishery. The province is limited in terms of heavy
industry and manufacturing. Although commercial deposits of minerals have not
been found, exploration for natural gas beneath the eastern end of the province
has resulted in the discovery of an undisclosed quantity of gas.
Agriculture remains the dominant industry in the provincial economy, as it
has since colonial times. During the twentieth century, potatoes replaced mixed
farming as the leading cash crop, accounting for one-third of provincial farm
income. The province currently accounts for a third of Canada's total potato
production, producing approximately 1.3 billion kilograms annually.
Comparatively, the state of Idaho produces approximately 6.2 billion kilograms
annually, with a population approximately 9.5 times greater. The province is a
major producer of seed potatoes, exporting to more than twenty countries around
the world.
As a legacy of the island's colonial history, the provincial government
enforces extremely strict rules for non-resident land ownership. Residents and
corporations are limited to maximum holdings of 400 and 1,200 hectares
respectively. There are also restrictions on non-resident ownership of
shorelines.
Many of the province's coastal communities rely upon shellfish harvesting,
particularly lobster fishing as well as oyster fishing and mussel farming.
The provincial government provides consumer protection in the form of
regulation for certain items, ranging from apartment rent increases to petroleum
products including gas, diesel, propane and heating oil. These are all regulated
through the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC). IRAC is authorized
to limit the number of companies who are permitted to sell petroleum products.
The sale of carbonated beverages such as beer and soft drinks in
non-refillable containers, such as aluminum cans or plastic bottles, was banned
in 1976 as an environmental measure in response to public concerns over litter.
Beer and soft drink companies opted to use refillable glass bottles for their
products which were redeemable at stores and bottle depots. The introduction of
recycling programs for cans and plastic bottles in neighboring provinces in
recent years (also using a redemption system) has seen the provincial government
introduce legislation to reverse this ban with the restriction lifted on May 3,
2008.
Prince Edward Island has Canada's highest provincial retail sales tax rate,
currently (2008) established at 10%. The tax is applied to almost all goods and
services except some clothing, food and home heating fuel. The tax is also
applied to the Federal Goods and Services Tax.
At present, approximately fifteen percent of all electricity consumed on the
island is generated from renewable energy (largely wind turbines); the
provincial government has set renewable energy targets as high as 30-50% for
electricity consumed by 2015. Until wind generation, the province relied
entirely on electricity imports on a submarine cable from New Brunswick. A
thermal oil-fired generating station in Charlottetown is also available.
Persons employed on Prince Edward Island earn a minimum wage of $8.00/hour as
of October 1, 2008.
Prince Edward Island's transportation network has traditionally revolved
around its seaports of Charlottetown, Summerside, Borden, Georgetown, and Souris
all linked to its railway system, and airports (Charlottetown and Summerside)
for communication with mainland North America. The railway system was abandoned
by CN in 1989 in favor of an agreement with the federal government to improve
major highways. Until 1997, the province was linked by two passenger-vehicle
ferry services to the mainland: one, provided by Marine Atlantic, operated
year-round between Borden and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick; the other,
provided by Northumberland Ferries Limited, operates seasonally between Wood
Islands and Caribou, Nova Scotia. A third ferry service provided by CTMA
operates seasonally between Souris and Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec, in the Magdalen
Islands.
On June 1, 1997, the Confederation Bridge opened, connecting Borden-Carleton
to Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. The longest bridge over ice covered waters in
the world, it replaced the Marine Atlantic ferry service. Since then, the
Confederation Bridge's assured transportation link to the mainland has altered
the province's tourism and agricultural and fisheries export economies.
The province has very strict laws regarding use of road-side signs.
Billboards and the use of portable signs are banned. There are standard
directional information signs on all roads in the province for various
businesses and attractions in the immediate area. Some municipalities' by-laws
also restrict the types of permanent signs that may be installed on private
property.
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