In Victorian days, ships from Canada's Maritime provinces traded Caribbean sugar and molasses for timber, salt cod and potatoes.

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Maine got help from 1, 200 such crews from Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

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Britain, too, understood that as long as it held onto Quebec City and the maritime provinces, its hold on Canada was secure.

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That has gradually shifted new immigrants away from the overcrowded cities to the sparsely populated Prairies and the Maritime provinces, where immigration provides a bigger economic boost.

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In the event Mr Harper consolidated the Conservatives' solid western base of Alberta oilmen and Saskatchewan farmers, and picked up seats in suburban Ontario and the Maritime provinces.

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The lopsided distribution of the 105 seats reflects a Canada that no longer exists: the maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each have 10 senators despite having much smaller populations than the four western provinces, which each have six.

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