A brief history of NB

Hi everyone,
I wanted to post this short blurb on NB's history so that we can have a better understanding of the events leading up to our current situation (info from Wikipedia). Have a look and let me know what you think...I'd love to start some dialogue over this.

New Brunswick, one of the four original provinces of Canada, entered the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867. New Brunswick had many advantages with joining the Canadian Confederation. Its residents would be protected from the Fenian Raids with an army on their side and would get their wish of a railway linking Saint John to Montréal. The Charlottetown Conference of 1864, which ultimately led to the confederation movement, originally had only been intended to discuss a Maritime Union, but concerns over the American Civil War as well as Fenian activity along the border led to an interest in expanding the scope of the union. This interest arose from the Province of Canada (formerly Upper and Lower Canada, later Ontario and Quebec), and a request was made by the Canadians to the Maritimers to have the meeting agenda altered. Many residents of the Maritimes wanted no part of this larger confederation for fear that their interests and concerns would be ignored in a wider national union. Many politicians who supported confederation, such as Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley (New Brunswick's best-known Father of Confederation), found themselves without a seat after the next election; nevertheless, backers of the wider confederation eventually prevailed.

Following confederation, the fears of the anti-confederates were proven right as new national policies and trade barriers were soon adopted by the central government, thus disrupting the historic trading relationship between the Maritime Provinces and New England. The situation in New Brunswick was exacerbated by both the Great Fire of 1877 in Saint John and the decline of the wooden shipbuilding industry; skilled workers were thus forced to move to other parts of Canada or to the United States to seek employment. As the 20th century dawned, however, the province's economy again began to expand. Manufacturing gained strength with the construction of several textile mills; and in the crucial forestry sector, the sawmills that had dotted inland sections of the province gave way to larger pulp and paper mills. The railway industry, meanwhile, provided for growth and prosperity in the Moncton region. Nevertheless, unemployment remained high throughout the province, and the Great Depression brought another setback. Two influential families, the Irvings and the McCains, emerged from the Depression to begin to modernise and vertically integrate the provincial economy—especially in the vital forestry, food processing, and energy sectors.