Terms of (dis)Union: Diamond Jubilee

[Skilly]

At 11:59 tonight, it will be the 60th anniversary of Newfoundland and Labrador joining Confederation. No mention of it from Harper, no mention of it from Williams, no commemorations scheduled .... just quietly the moment will pass.

Sixty years ago Newfoundland (and Labrador) became the only democracy ever to willingly surrender its independence. A mere 6401 more citizens voted for Confederation, 52 to 48 percent. The Dominion of Newfoundland was no more.

The shady back room dealings and manipulation of people that led to us joining Confederation have not and will not be forgotten by many people. The irony for me is that my father was born in the Dominion of Newfoundland and it a devout federalist, and I was born in the Dominion of Canada and consider myself a Newfoundland and Labrador nationalist.

Happy Anniversary Canada's 10th (and least significant) province.

As loved our father's so we love, where once they stood we stand
Their prayers we raise to heaven above, God guard thee Newfoundland

[MC Habber]

50% + 2 eh?

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

FYI
no mention of it in the LA Times either??
Happy 60th.
Have some cod tongues and scrunchions for me.

[The New Guy]

We didn't willingly surrender our independence - it was taken from us when we went bankrupt after WW1 (that's what happens when you're the only nation to clear her war debts). We opted not to regain our independence in 1948, but we did not surrender it.

As for being for or against Confederation, I think a lot of what Newfoundland now suffers from - what Newfoundland has suffered from since April 1st, 1949 - is the fault not of the federal government, but of the leaders of the province. All too often have the clowns in the House of Commons, or the clowns that represent Newfoundland on Parliament Hill, been all to happy to toe the line no matter what the cost. You can go all the way back - Joey selling the Churchill for a pittance, the repeated failure to stop Ottawa from selling our dwindling cod stocks as a diplomatic plum, the do-nothings Brian Tobin and Roger Grimes who let Ottawa get away with whatever they wanted.

We have had one - one - leader in sixty years who has fought for us. Now Danny doesn't get much respect, but that's becaue on the mainland the concept of a Newfoundlander who fights for himself and for his people is completely new. Eventually, if given a chance, that'll change.

In the mean time, you might be Canada's least significant province, you'll be first in my heart. I'm not in a place where I can come home yet, but give me a couple years - we're working on it....

[Skilly]

Apr 1, 2009 8:29:14 GMT -5 The New Guy said:

We didn't willingly surrender our independence - it was taken from us when we went bankrupt after WW1 (that's what happens when you're the only nation to clear her war debts). We opted not to regain our independence in 1948, but we did not surrender it.

As for being for or against Confederation, I think a lot of what Newfoundland now suffers from - what Newfoundland has suffered from since April 1st, 1949 - is the fault not of the federal government, but of the leaders of the province. All too often have the clowns in the House of Commons, or the clowns that represent Newfoundland on Parliament Hill, been all to happy to toe the line no matter what the cost. You can go all the way back - Joey selling the Churchill for a pittance, the repeated failure to stop Ottawa from selling our dwindling cod stocks as a diplomatic plum, the do-nothings Brian Tobin and Roger Grimes who let Ottawa get away with whatever they wanted.

We have had one - one - leader in sixty years who has fought for us. Now Danny doesn't get much respect, but that's becaue on the mainland the concept of a Newfoundlander who fights for himself and for his people is completely new. Eventually, if given a chance, that'll change.

In the mean time, you might be Canada's least significant province, you'll be first in my heart. I'm not in a place where I can come home yet, but give me a couple years - we're working on it....

Responsible government was not giving up our independence. It was Britain helping us get our affairs in order. We still voted for our own Prime Ministers, ran our own government, just had Britain as a safety net. The irony is that we cleared our war debts, Britain jumped in when we went bankrupt, and by 1948-49 we were the only nation in North America with a surplus ... and at 12:00 April 1st, we became the poorest province in Canada immediately since we took on some of Canada's debts and never recovered until 2008.

In a democracy, voting is everything (remember you telling me that last election?) and the citizentry voted and the results were what they were .... a nation who through democracy willingly gave up their nationhood. Any google search will show you that Newfoundland is considered the only demcracy to willingly give up their nationhood.

[Skilly]

Apr 1, 2009 8:29:14 GMT -5 The New Guy said:

You can go all the way back - Joey selling the Churchill for a pittance,

Not totally his fault though ... the only error he made was the failure to have an escalator clause. It's hard to negotiate when Canada told us we could only sell to Quebec. Then there was a little duress put on NL by both parties ...

Now when I am premier I'll solve the Churchill deal once and for all ... no where in that contract does it say we can't tax the sale of hydroelectricity. You think credit card rates are high, wait until you see how much I tax it ....

the repeated failure to stop Ottawa from selling our dwindling cod stocks as a diplomatic plum, the do-nothings Brian Tobin and Roger Grimes who let Ottawa get away with whatever they wanted.

I'll admit there have been many a leader that have kowtowed to Canada for their own political well being ... but my beef with the government of Canada is about the way the voting occured back in 1948.

[The New Guy]

Apr 1, 2009 9:01:13 GMT -5 Skilly said:

Not totally his fault though ... the only error he made was the failure to have an escalator clause. It's hard to negotiate when Canada told us we could only sell to Quebec. Then there was a little duress put on NL by both parties ...

Joey was a smart man who knew all to well he was giving Quebec a damn fine deal. He knew he was remiss in leaving out an elevator clause. And he did it anyways, likely because he was getting something in return. Or because he hoped to get something in return.

Apr 1, 2009 9:01:13 GMT -5 Skilly said:

Now when I am premier I'll solve the Churchill deal once and for all ... no where in that contract does it say we can't tax the sale of hydroelectricity. You think credit card rates are high, wait until you see how much I tax it ....

I'm reasonably sure there's some reason that can't be done. I don't have much faith it politicians, but Danny is not the kind to let a public relations coup like fixing the Churchill deal go by the wayside.

Apr 1, 2009 9:01:13 GMT -5 Skilly said:

I'll admit there have been many a leader that have kowtowed to Canada for their own political well being ... but my beef with the government of Canada is about the way the voting occured back in 1948.

IIRC there were many voting *ahem* irregularities during the reign of King Joey, but I don't recall hearing anything big about the big vote. That was all Joey's magic. Of course, promising poor fisherman a new life with a big Canadian cheque (the Baby Bonus) to come could make a lot of men believers very quickly.

[Skilly]

Apr 1, 2009 11:29:20 GMT -5 The New Guy said:

IIRC there were many voting *ahem* irregularities during the reign of King Joey, but I don't recall hearing anything big about the big vote. That was all Joey's magic. Of course, promising poor fisherman a new life with a big Canadian cheque (the Baby Bonus) to come could make a lot of men believers very quickly.

Well there are conspiracy theories abound about whether or not the confederates stuffed the ballot boxes in 1948 .... but I'll leave that alone because quite frankly, there is no proof unless someone comes forth and shows us all undeniable proof.

But what I refer to, is how Confederation got on the ballot in the first place. This may be long winded, so I apologize .... I'll try to give a brief overview of the history.

Commission of Government took over in 1934, replacing parliamentary democracy. Newfoundland, burdened with having to pay off its share of the war debt, went into financial ruin. And to top it of, the entire world was dealing with the Great Depression.

The Commission was three Newfoundland appointees and three British appointees plus the Governor. Commission of government, no doubt, served Newfoundland well. Medical services improved, education improved, and they established the Newfoundland Fisheries Board. But for all these benefits the fishing industry struggled because of problems with export markets.

But the years leading up to the war, public opinion was strong against Commission of Government. When WWII broke out, Newfoundland started to prosper again. Its strategic location had alot of countries wanting to set up bases here. . the Americans pumped in over 100 million in construction costs, the Canadians set up bases for 60 million or more .... this enables Newfoundland to erase its 4.8 million budget deficit, and have surpluses ever year from 1940 to 1948. All the while we made gave Britain 12 million in interest free loans and made vasts improvements to the Newfoundland education, health, housing and government.

Newfoundland was prospering, and Britain knew that it was only a matter of time for people to want their independence back. They feared that NL would slip back into financial ruin and the cost of maintaining a presence in NL was becoming unaffordable to Britain. So Britain developed a plan where they would request Canada to let NL join. (Nevermind that NL was present in 1867 in Charlottetown and wanted to join then, but were denied ... which was why many did not want to join Canada)

But there was a little glitch. NLers, had stronger ties the the US. They were our biggest trading partner, we had more in common with east coast Americans than any Canadian province. The Americans had a strong presence in NL .... Canada feared being bookended with Alaska on one coast and NL on the other, and Britain and the US did not exactly see eye to eye ....

So before the big vote, a National Convention was set up, to set the terms of the referendum. There were 2 choices. Responsible Government (total independence again) and Commission of Government (which Britain did not want at all costs). Read that again. The National Convention (comprised of 45 elected NLers) DID NOT want Confederation on the ballot.

Then Joey Smallwood hatched his plan ... and whether he knew the outcome I'll leave you to decide .... and some would say it was an ingenious plan. He approached the National Convention along with Peter Cashin (a merchant who was anti-confederation) I believe, and asked the Convention to place two more options on the ballot. Confederation and an economic union with the United States. The Convention agreed because Smallwood and Cashin supported each other, and because the great percentage of the population WANTED to join the US.

Then Britain stepped in ... they urged NL to join Canada, told them that Britain would not let NL join in any fashion a non-Commonwealth nation and removed the US option AND then forced NL to keep the Canadian option even though the Convention did not want it without the US option.

The rest is history. The first referendum there was no 50% clear winner AND more NLers voted against Confederation (44.6 for independence, 41.1 for canada, almost 15% were so disgusted they actually choose the retain Commission of Government). The second ballot then was just 2 choices and we picked Canada.

But we democratically voted down the Canada option in the National Convention and it was forced upon us ... which is why conspiracy theories abound about that second referendum.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Apr 1, 2009 13:09:29 GMT -5 Skilly said:

Apr 1, 2009 11:29:20 GMT -5 The New Guy said:

IIRC there were many voting *ahem* irregularities during the reign of King Joey, but I don't recall hearing anything big about the big vote. That was all Joey's magic. Of course, promising poor fisherman a new life with a big Canadian cheque (the Baby Bonus) to come could make a lot of men believers very quickly.

Well there are conspiracy theories abound about whether or not the confederates stuffed the ballot boxes in 1948 .... but I'll leave that alone because quite frankly, there is no proof unless someone comes forth and shows us all undeniable proof.

But what I refer to, is how Confederation got on the ballot in the first place. This may be long winded, so I apologize .... I'll try to give a brief overview of the history.

Commission of Government took over in 1934, replacing parliamentary democracy. Newfoundland, burdened with having to pay off its share of the war debt, went into financial ruin. And to top it of, the entire world was dealing with the Great Depression.

The Commission was three Newfoundland appointees and three British appointees plus the Governor. Commission of government, no doubt, served Newfoundland well. Medical services improved, education improved, and they established the Newfoundland Fisheries Board. But for all these benefits the fishing industry struggled because of problems with export markets.

But the years leading up to the war, public opinion was strong against Commission of Government. When WWII broke out, Newfoundland started to prosper again. Its strategic location had alot of countries wanting to set up bases here. . the Americans pumped in over 100 million in construction costs, the Canadians set up bases for 60 million or more .... this enables Newfoundland to erase its 4.8 million budget deficit, and have surpluses ever year from 1940 to 1948. All the while we made gave Britain 12 million in interest free loans and made vasts improvements to the Newfoundland education, health, housing and government.

Newfoundland was prospering, and Britain knew that it was only a matter of time for people to want their independence back. They feared that NL would slip back into financial ruin and the cost of maintaining a presence in NL was becoming unaffordable to Britain. So Britain developed a plan where they would request Canada to let NL join. (Nevermind that NL was present in 1867 in Charlottetown and wanted to join then, but were denied ... which was why many did not want to join Canada)

But there was a little glitch. NLers, had stronger ties the the US. They were our biggest trading partner, we had more in common with east coast Americans than any Canadian province. The Americans had a strong presence in NL .... Canada feared being bookended with Alaska on one coast and NL on the other, and Britain and the US did not exactly see eye to eye ....

So before the big vote, a National Convention was set up, to set the terms of the referendum. There were 2 choices. Responsible Government (total independence again) and Commission of Government (which Britain did not want at all costs). Read that again. The National Convention (comprised of 45 elected NLers) DID NOT want Confederation on the ballot.

Then Joey Smallwood hatched his plan ... and whether he knew the outcome I'll leave you to decide .... and some would say it was an ingenious plan. He approached the National Convention along with Peter Cashin (a merchant) I believe, and asked the Convention to place two more options on the ballot. Confederation and an economic union with the United States. The Convention agreed because Smallwood and Cashin supported each other, and because the great percentage of the population WANTED to join the US.

Then Britain stepped in ... they urged NL to join Canada, told them that Britain would not let NL join in any fashion a non-Commonwealth nation and removed the US option AND then forced NL to keep the Canadian option even though the Convention did not want it without the US option.

The rest is history. The first referendum there was no 50% clear winner AND more NLers voted against Confederation (44.6 for independence, 41.1 for canada, almost 15% were so disgusted they actually choose the retain Commission of Government). The second ballot then was just 2 choices and we picked Canada.

But we democratically voted down the Canada option in the National Convention and it was forced upon us ... which is why conspiracy theories abound about that second referendum.

Election results were undoubtedly influenced by hanging cod.
Newfoundland should quote Michelle Obama. When Barak Obama gave his gift to the queen of England and she appeared confused:
"Stick it in your ear!"