DAGS,

I don't think that Clancy1 needs my forgiveness nor that the Maritime Provinces (i.e. the Atlantic Provinces less Newfoundland) should be put down because economic trends over more than 150 years have placed them at a disadvantage on both the global and Canadian domestic stage.  

 Economic trends can be unpredictable and unforgiving as the Prairies during the 1930s and Alberta recently since the rise of fracking and dissension within OPEC drove down the price of oil can testify.