Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces, is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime Provinces – New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island – and the easternmost province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The population of the four Atlantic provinces in 2016 was about 2,300,000 on half a million km. The provinces combined had an approximate GDP of $121.888 billion in 2011. The term "Atlantic Canada" was popularized following the admission of Newfoundland as a Canadian province in 1949. History. The first premier of Newfoundland, Joey Smallwood , coined the term "Atlantic Canada" when Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. He believed that it would have been presumptuous for Newfoundland to assume that it could include itself within the existing term "Maritime Provinces," used to describe the cultural similarities shared by New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. The three Maritime provinces entered Confederation during the 19th century (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were founding members of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, and Prince Edward Island joined in 1873). Geography. Although Quebec has a physical Atlantic coast on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it is generally not  considered an Atlantic Province, instead being classified as part of Central Canada along with Ontario. Atlantic and Central Canada together are also known as Eastern Canada. Demographics. The following table provides 2021 census figures for "Metropolitan Areas" (built from entire municipalities) and "Population Centres" (limited to actual continuously-built-up areas) in Atlantic Canada. The list includes communities above 15,000, by Metropolitan Area population, or 10,000 by Population Centre population.