List of proposed provinces and territories of Canada
Since Canadian Confederation in 1867, there have been several proposals for new Canadian provinces and territories. Since 1982, the current Constitution of Canada requires an amendment ratified by seven provincial legislatures representing at least half of the national population for the creation of a new province while the creation of a new territory requires only an act of Parliament. Because opening up the constitution to amendment could entice provinces to demand other changes too in exchange for such support, this is seen to be a politically unfeasible option. The newest province, Newfoundland and Labrador, joined Canada in 1949 by an act of the British Parliament before the 1982 patriation of the constitution.
Movements inside Canada
There have been movements to create new provinces and territories inside the borders of Canada.Atlantic Canada
Acadia
The Parti acadien supported the creation of a new province consisting of the francophone parts of New Brunswick, in tandem with most Acadian Society of New Brunswick members. The party went into the 1978 election with a platform of independence. However, the idea died down after Richard Hatfield and the governing Progressive Conservatives promoted a platform that promised to increase the role of the Acadian people and culture within the province.Cape Breton Island
In 1784 Cape Breton Island became a separate colony, but it was incorporated back into Nova Scotia in 1820. Provincehood was advocated by the Cape Breton Labour Party from 1982 to 1984.Labrador
is the mainland portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Labrador Party has campaigned on the platform of a separate province. A similar campaign was held by locals in 2016 with a petition written to the MP on the federal level and the Labrador MHAs on the provincial level, based on claims that the provincial government has been inadequately funding for Labrador's amenities such as roads, in contrast with Newfoundland; but largely benefited from its resources. Neither federal nor provincial representatives responded.Maritime Union
The Maritime Union is a proposed province that would be formed by a merger of the three existing Maritime provinces of Canada: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. It would be the fifth-largest Canadian province by population. The Maritime Union has also been expanded to a proposed "Atlantic Union," which would include Newfoundland and Labrador as well.Quebec
Mohawk territory/province
Before the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum, Mohawk leaders asserted a sovereign right to secede from Quebec if Quebec were to secede from Canada. In the CBC Television documentary Breaking Point, premier of Quebec Jacques Parizeau said that if the referendum had succeeded, he would have allowed the Mohawk communities to secede from Quebec on the grounds that they had never given up their sovereign rights.Montreal
It has been proposed to separate the city of Montreal, its metropolitan area, or its non-francophone parts into a province separate from Quebec. There have been several proposals of that nature since the mid-20th century. Around the time of the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, a self-named partition movement flourished advocating the separation of certain areas of Quebec, particularly the anglophone areas such as Montreal's West Island, in the event of Quebec separation, and such areas would remain part of Canada. The movement is no longer active.Nunavik
is Quebec's northernmost Inuit and First Nation territory, as well as northernmost territory overall, which seeks a status similar to Nunatsiavut in Labrador.Ontario
Northern Ontario
There have been various movements proposing that the region of Northern Ontario secede from Ontario to form its own province. The first such movement emerged in Sudbury in the 1890s, when the provincial government began taxing mines. A second movement emerged after the creation of Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905. In the 1940s, an organization, called the New Province League, was formed to lobby for the creation of a new territory of "Aurora."In 1966, a committee of mayors from the region, comprising Max Silverman of Sudbury, G. W. Maybury of Kapuskasing, Ernest Reid of Fort William, Leo Del Villano of Timmins, Merle Dickerson of North Bay, and Leo Foucault of Espanola, was formed to study the feasibility of Northern Ontario forming a new province. In 1999, the Northeastern Ontario Municipal Association, a committee consisting of the mayors of 14 Northern Ontario municipalities, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien asking him to outline the necessary conditions for the region to secede from Ontario to form a new province. The movement emerged as a reaction to the government of Mike Harris, whose Common Sense Revolution was widely unpopular in the region even though Harris was representing the Northern Ontario riding of Nipissing in the Ontario Legislature.
The Northern Ontario Heritage Party advocated the creation of a separate province by dividing from Southern Ontario in the 1970s although the party did not attract widespread electoral support. A newer group, the Northern Ontario Secession Movement, began a similar campaign in 2006 but did not attract the same degree of attention. The Northern Ontario Heritage Party was reregistered in 2010 with a platform that did not for full separation but instead supported a number of measures to increase the region's power in the province. In 2016, the party began advocating for the full secession of Northern Ontario from the province, but it dropped separation from its platform again in 2018.
Northwestern Ontario
In 2006, some residents of Northwestern Ontario proposed that the region secede from Ontario to join Manitoba, due to the perception that the government of Ontario does not pay sufficient attention to the region's issues. One paper in Canadian Public Policy suggested the region merge with Manitoba to form a new province called "Mantario."Toronto
is the largest city in Canada. Some have argued that the rest of Ontario benefits from Toronto more than the reverse. Some activists have lobbied for a separate province of Toronto. Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman was in office when he floated the idea because of what he perceived as the province's excessive draining of tax resources from Toronto without providing sufficient support for public services within the city. In 2018, some activists revived the proposal again after Premier Doug Ford had introduced legislation to cut the number of seats on Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 seats months after the 2018 municipal election was already underway.Western Canada
Buffalo
Buffalo was a proposed Canadian province prior to 1905. Carved out of the southern portion of the North-West Territories, it would have comprised the southern halves of the present-day provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, including the already-sizable urbanized communities of Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, and Regina, with Regina as the capital. Its main proponent was Sir Frederick Haultain, the Premier of the North-West Territories, who said in 1904, "One big province would be able to do things no other province could." The proposal was not popular, especially in Calgary and Edmonton, both of which had their own ambitions to be a capital city. The proposal was rejected in 1905 by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, who divided the region reaching 60°N with a north–south boundary as the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.Vancouver Island
The Colony of Vancouver Island was established in 1849, but was joined to the mainland Colony of British Columbia in 1866; when the united colony joined Canada in 1871, Vancouver Island remained part of the province of British Columbia. In 2013, in response to the federal electoral district redistribution, two separatist groups emerged to make Vancouver Island its own country or province. They hoped to move the British Columbia Legislature to a different city, make Vancouver Island its own province, and fly the flag of Vancouver Island by 2021. In the 2017 provincial election, the Vancouver Island Party proposed a referendum for Vancouver Island residents to vote on the issue. Vancouver Island has more people than three provinces and all three territories.Northern Canada
Each of the three Canadian territories has movements lobbying for their territorial political status to be upgraded to full provincehood. Yukon Premier Tony Penikett fought the Meech Lake Accord in the 1980s on the grounds that provisions of the accord would have made it virtually impossible for the territory ever to become a province. In late 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin surprised some observers by expressing his personal support for all three territories "eventually" gaining provincial status. He cited their importance to the country as a whole and the ongoing need to assert sovereignty in the Arctic, particularly since global warming could make that region more open to exploitation and lead to more complex international waters disputes.National Capital Region
At various times, provincial, territorial or special federal status has been proposed for the metropolitan area consisting of Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec so that the National Capital Region would be a district like the Australian Capital Territory, Washington, D.C., or the National Capital Territory of Delhi.Movements outside Canada
There have been movements to create new provinces and territories outside the borders of Canada.Movements inside British overseas territories
In 1905, Ian Malcolm suggested in the British House of Commons that the United Kingdom might benefit from transferring one or more isles of the West Indies to Canada for national defence.In 1919, Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden and his delegation to the Paris Peace Conference discussed transferring parts of the West Indies as territories, sub-dominions, or League of Nations mandates, including the possibility of exchanging some to the United States for the Alaska Panhandle.