<P> Regional transportation networks have also changed significantly in recent decades with port modernizations, with new freeway and ongoing arterial highway construction, the abandonment of various low - capacity railway branchlines (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 . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> 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 British Commonwealth (CFB Gagetown), which plays a significant role in the cultural and economic spheres of Fredericton, the province's capital city . </P> <P> While the economic underperformance of the Maritime economy has been long lasting, it has not always been present . The mid-19th century, especially the 1850s and 1860s, has long been seen as a "Golden Age" in the Maritimes . Growth was strong, and the region had one of British North America's most extensive manufacturing sectors as well as a large international shipping industry . The question of why the Maritimes fell from being a centre of Canadian manufacturing to being an economic hinterland is thus a central one to the study of the region's pecuniary difficulties . The period in which the decline occurred had a great many potential culprits . In 1867 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick merged with the Canadas in Confederation, with Prince Edward Island joining them six years later in 1873 . Canada was formed only a year after free trade with the United States (in the form of the Reciprocity Agreement) had ended . In the 1870s John A. Macdonald's National Policy was implemented, creating a system of protective tariffs around the new nation . Throughout the period there was also significant technological change both in the production and transportation of goods . </P>

Why is newfoundland not part of the maritimes