For generations it has been a point of regional pride that the Bay of Fundy tides are the highest in the world. But lately, troubling sounds have been coming from northern Quebec – whispers of even higher tides in the crystal-clear waters of Ungava Bay’s Leaf Basin. Idle chatter, proud Maritimers scoffed. After all, the Guinness Book of Records has proclaimed Fundy the winner.

To assert their own claims, last year the Nunavik Tourims Association brought in a hired gun, a retired hydrographer who put Ungava’s tides to the measuring stick. His result: 16.1 metres, more than 25 centimetres higher than the highest actual recorded tide at Fundy. But don’t put the signs out yet, says the Canadian Hydrographic Services chief of tidal analysis Charles O’Reilly, who adjudicated the matter. The margin for error for such a study is in the order of 40 centimetres. Besides, the test won’t be truly accurate without measuring both tides over a period of months, preferably during the peak of the cycle – and that won’t happen again until the year 2014. To make matters even more complicated, Fundy comes out on top when “predicted” tidal levels are calculated. To settle the matter, O’Reilly’s department has declared it a tie.

Maybe that’s the perfect Canadian solution, O’Reilly says. “There are only two places on the face of the earth where the tides are highest and they are both in Canada. It’s like two brothers fighting over who is tallest.” But then he casually drops another bomb. Nova Scotia’s tides are slightly higher than the better-promoted ones on the New Brunswick sided of Fundy. Home of the world’s highest tides indeed.