Be that as it may, Howe and his followers acquiesced. He was able to negotiate better terms for Nova Scotia and agreed to give the federation his backing by standing for a federal seat.
He won, but it cost him his health and much of his reputation for integrity in Nova Scotia. It is perhaps one of the great ironies of early post-Confederation history that Howe, in his capacity as Secretary of State for the Provinces, was instrumental in persuading the Manitobans that federal union was a deal worth pursuing. Before then, the Nova Scotian Repeal Movement would take a last stab at secession.
The Dominion of Canada was not two decades old when Nova Scotians would again reconsider their place in Canada. The Maritime economy had slowed and a structural decline was underway. Ship construction had plummeted from a high point in of 73, tons to 21, in , and 14, tons in Natural increases more births than deaths were offset by out-migration — mostly to the western reaches of the new Dominion and to New England. Party politics in Nova Scotia increasingly coalesced around Conservative and Liberal parties.
If the former was in power federally, the latter stood a better chance of holding power provincially. This was certainly the case in when William S.
Fielding — a self-described anti-confederate — led the Liberal Party to victory with a simultaneous call for secession and better subsidies from Ottawa.
The two options reflected divisions between unionists and secessionists within the Liberal Party. The ministry was the first to operate under the principle of cabinet government in any colony of the British Empire, preceding the Baldwin-Lafontaine government in Canada by 5 weeks. Howe's period in office was an active one of railroad building in Nova Scotia, which he aided when he became chairman of the government railway board in The period was also one of denominational bitterness in Nova Scotian politics, and Howe lost some support when he criticized the loyalty of Irish Roman Catholics in the province.
In Howe was reelected after a short period out of the Assembly and served in opposition from to In , Howe again became provincial secretary, then premier after August , and remained in office until his government was defeated in During the negotiations with Canada over confederation Howe was on imperial service as commissioner to ensure that the fisheries clauses of the Reciprocity Treaty of were being observed.
He entered the lists against the confederation project in , criticizing the terms, although not the principle, of federation with Canada. He led the anticonfederate forces in an unsuccessful mission to Great Britain in to forestall the project and won a sweeping victory in the elections, when 36 anticonfederates were returned in the 38 seats allotted to Nova Scotia in the Dominion Parliament.
Later, realizing that further opposition was useless, Howe bent his efforts to secure "better terms" for Nova Scotia in the federation agreement. In negotiations with the Ottawa government produced a higher annual subsidy for Nova Scotia, and Howe entered the Cabinet of John Alexander Macdonald, first as president of the council, then as secretary of state.
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