 Canada saw some value in Newfoundland's fisheries, raw materials, Labrador's hydroelectric potential, and 300,000 people of English and Irish descent, and expected that its location would remain important to trans-Atlantic aviation.Canada's primary interest, however, was from the fear that an independent Newfoundland would join the United States due to their economic and military ties.With Newfoundland, the United States would block the Gulf of St. Lawrence and leave only about 500 km of Nova Scotia coastline open to the Atlantic.