Quote:
Originally Posted by hipster duck
I think there would be broad support to upgrade US-2 and ME-9 through northern New England to allow for a transit from NB to Cornwall, and the Americans would not turn down free infrastructure.
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The instability of Quebec leaving would be a big problem but the "Atlantic" geographical view is quite different from how Canadians usually think about it and the status quo is poor for Atlantic Canada so some other configurations are better.
Most Canadians don't think much about Atlantic Canada and imagine the Maritimes as an appendage off of Quebec. But the Maritimes have their longest land border with ME, not QC, and area really east of ME. The I-95 corridor down to Boston is the natural main route (similar to I-5 here) while the Trans-Canada route is not one that you'd expect would carry much trade if you looked at a map without national borders.
Ocean shipping and international trade beyond the USA are also comparatively important in Atlantic Canada (almost everything in NL comes off of a boat or goes onto a boat for example, and there are good ports everywhere in the region).
In the event of Quebec separation I think the Maritimes would be really open to doing whatever they could to improve trade and connectivity with the USA. And if we're just looking at the economics, improved connections could easily end up a net win even if the land route through Quebec is completely closed off. For example, I think if it were just up to the Maritimes they'd probably do whatever the US wants in order to allow passport-free cross-border travel.