Editing The Maritimes (section)

===Present status===
[[Image:Fredericton City Hall.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Fredericton City Hall]]

Given the small population of the region (compared with the Central Canadian provinces or the New England states), the regional economy is a net exporter of natural resources, manufactured goods, and services. The regional economy has long been tied to natural resources such as fishing, logging, farming, and mining activities. Significant industrialization in the second half of the 19th century brought steel to [[Trenton, Nova Scotia]], and subsequent creation of a widespread industrial base to take advantage of the region's large underground coal deposits. After Confederation, however, this industrial base withered with technological change, and trading links to Europe and the U.S. were reduced in favour of those with Ontario and Quebec. In recent years, however, the Maritime regional economy has begun increased contributions from manufacturing again and the steady transition to a service economy.

Important manufacturing centres in the region include [[Pictou County]], [[Truro, Nova Scotia|Truro]], the [[Annapolis Valley]] and the [[Southern Nova Scotia|South Shore]], and the [[Strait of Canso]] area in Nova Scotia, as well as [[Summerside, Prince Edward Island|Summerside]] in Prince Edward Island, and the [[Miramichi, New Brunswick|Miramichi]] area, the [[North Shore (New Brunswick)|North Shore]] and the upper [[Saint John River (Bay of Fundy)|Saint John River]] valley of New Brunswick.

Some predominantly coastal areas have become major tourist centres, such as parts of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton Island, the South Shore of Nova Scotia and the [[Gulf of St. Lawrence]] and [[Bay of Fundy]] coasts of New Brunswick. Additional service-related industries in [[information technology]], pharmaceuticals, insurance and financial sectors—as well as research-related spin-offs from the region's numerous universities and colleges—are significant economic contributors.

Another important contribution to Nova Scotia's provincial economy is through spin-offs and royalties relating to off-shore [[petroleum]] exploration and development. Mostly concentrated on the continental shelf of the province's Atlantic coast in the vicinity of [[Sable Island]], exploration activities began in the 1960s and resulted in the first commercial production field for oil beginning in the 1980s. [[Natural gas]] was also discovered in the 1980s during exploration work, and this is being commercially recovered, beginning in the late 1990s. Initial optimism in Nova Scotia about the potential of off-shore resources appears to have diminished with the lack of new discoveries, although exploration work continues and is moving farther off-shore into waters on the [[continental margin]].

[[Image:Charlottetown quay.JPG|thumb|Peakes Quay on the [[Charlottetown]] waterfront]]

Regional transportation networks have also changed significantly in recent decades with port modernizations, with new [[Controlled-access highway|freeway]] and ongoing [[Arterial road|arterial highway]] construction, the abandonment of various low-capacity railway [[branch line]]s (including the entire railway system of Prince Edward Island and southwestern Nova Scotia), and the construction of the [[Canso Causeway]] and the [[Confederation Bridge]]. There have been airport improvements at various centres providing improved connections to markets and destinations in the rest of North America and overseas.

Improvements in infrastructure and the regional economy notwithstanding, the three provinces remain one of the poorer regions of Canada. While urban areas are growing and thriving, economic adjustments have been harsh in rural and resource-dependent communities, and emigration has been an ongoing phenomenon for some parts of the region. Another problem is seen in the lower average wages and family incomes within the region. Property values are depressed, resulting in a smaller tax base for these three provinces, particularly when compared with the national average which benefits from central and western Canadian economic growth.

This has been particularly problematic with the growth of the [[welfare state]] in Canada since the 1950s, resulting in the need to draw upon [[equalization payments]] to provide nationally mandated social services. Since the 1990s the region has experienced an exceptionally tumultuous period in its regional economy with the collapse of large portions of the ground fishery throughout Atlantic Canada, the closing of coal mines and a steel mill on [[Cape Breton Island]], and the closure of military bases in all three provinces. That being said, New Brunswick has one of the largest military bases in the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] ([[CFB Gagetown]]), which plays a significant role in the cultural and economic spheres of Fredericton, the province's capital city.