Canada is a nation of regions — Atlantic, Laurentian (Quebec/Ontario), Prairie, Pacific, and North — depending on which geographic and demographic criteria we choose to define them.

Each of these regions, however we define them, has some unique — let us say “distinctive” — concerns and aspirations. These can readily become divisive and major sources of national disunity if only addressed in part or used to pit one section of the country against another, as when the current Liberal/NDP coalition fixates on the aspirations and concerns of Quebec and/or Ontario while disparaging those of the West, ignoring those of the North, and treating Atlantic Canada as a subsidized vassal of the federal government.