The "Recognition of Charlottetown as the Birthplace of Confederation" Act () is an act of the Parliament of Canada which declared that Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island was the "birthplace" of the Confederation of Canada, in recognition of the Charlottetown Conference.
Background.
According to Edward MacDonald, University of Prince Edward Island historian, New Brunswick's lieutenant-governor, Hamilton-Gordon, was the first to propose a confederation of only maritime provinces. They met because the colonial office in Britain had wanted them to meet.
Despite the Charlottetown Conference in 1864, Prince Edward Island did not join the Confederation in 1867, when New Brunswick did. Prince Edward Island did join the Confederation in 1873.
Prince Edward Island license plates feature the phrase "Birthplace of Confederation". According to McDonald, the PEI government first this claim in 1914.
The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island passed the "Birthplace of Confederation Act" in 1988.
In January 2017, the New Brunswick government revealed that its slogan relating to celebrations for Canada's "150th birthday" - referred to as "Canada 150".
Legislative passage.
By February 2017, a PEI senator, Diane Griffin, and a Malpeque MP, Wayne Easter, had both introduced private member's bills to recognize Charlottetown as the "birthplace" of the Confederation. Wayne Easter's bill was Bill C-253. Similar bills were introduced by Sean Casey in 2015 and by George Proud many years before this. Griffin said that there was more than a decade of evidence to substantiate the claim that Chatlottetown was the birthplace of Confederation. 
Senator Paul McIntrye successfully tabled amendments to the bill, so that the preamble was changed to mention the London conference and Quebec Conference with McIntyre saying, "Could not Confederation be described as having taken place in a number of places and over a number of years, bearing in mind the three conferences that were held in Charlottetown, Quebec and London."
Wayne Easter was in charge of the bill in the House of Commons. The legislation was supported by Egmont MP Robert Morrissey and Gatineau, Que., Liberal MP Steven MacKinnon also spoke in support of the bill.
Reception.
The act was supported by Edward MacDonald, who described it as important in teaching the history of Canada. MacDonald refuted the suggestion that Prince Edward Island could not have been the birthplace if it only joined in 1873 in 1867, by saying that "Charlottetown is the birthplace, not the province of Prince Edward Island". MacDonald also said that 2023, 150 years after Prince Edward Island joined, was a "good moment" to reflect on the country's "colonial past".